You Probably Missed a Major Sitcom Star in 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Episode 3

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Until the 2015 release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the universe found a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away wasn't really a major haven for celebrity cameos. Sure, major actors like Jimmy Smits and a young, pre-fame Joel Edgerton played small roles in George Lucas' prequel trilogy, but surprise appearances were not really a part of the equation. But then the sequel trilogy came, and a Daniel Craig appearance (under Stormtrooper armor in The Force Awakens) along with a Tom Hardy appearance (under Stormtrooper armor in The Last Jedi) opened the floodgates, leading to all sorts of cameos in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Now, if there's even one episode of a live-action Star Wars show on Disney+ that doesn't have a major cameo, it's a pretty big surprise.

That trend continued in Part III of Obi-Wan Kenobi. We've reached a point where if there's any sort of monster, alien, or droid, of note, you can basically assume that it's someone famous playing the role. That's been the case with droids in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett (both voiced by What We Do In The Shadows alums Taika Waititi and Matt Berry) and now Obi-Wan introduced an alien named Freck, who had a big enough role that lets us believe that he simply must be played by someone of note. But who? You probably went the entire episode wondering.

That is, wondering until the very end credits, when the name "Zach Braff" flashed across your screen in that blue font on top of the signature Star Wars space background. We didn't see Zach Braff, so surely he had to be doing voice work, right? His name confounded Star Wars fans across the internet.

In fact, some may have been expecting to see a different name in those closing credits:

But no—that was our good friend from Scrubs and Garden State, Zach Braff.

Who did Zach Braff play in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

You probably had absolutely no idea Mr. Braff was in Part III of Obi-Wan Kenobi until seeing his name in the episode's closing credits. But considering the fact that we clearly didn't see the actor best known as J.D. from Scrubs in the episode, a little bit of thinking helps to make it very apparent that Braff was voicing Freck, the alien who Obi-Wan and Princess Leia crossed paths with early on in the episode.

Freck is a friendly presence who plans to help Obi-Wan and Leia—operating under aliases to avoid Empire detection—get to the Spaceport so they can get the hell out of there. But he's also a bootlicking coward, expressing his support for the Empire and saying that he doesn't mind a little bit of order. It's clear from the start that this guy isn't so great.

Eventually, Freck grows suspicious of Obi-Wan and Leia and tips some passing Stormtroopers off. Obviously, these Stormtroopers and their cowardly confidante are no match for our Jedi master, so the fight doesn't last very long. But Freck's cowardice still leads us to see some pretty neat Obi-Wan blaster moves—including one that leads to a Stormtrooper being cut in half—before he gets pistolwhipped and knocked out by our titular hero, so at the very least we're thankful for that.

How did Zach Braff end up in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Braff's connection to Obi-Wan Kenobi can be found pretty easily; Braff starred in The High Cost of Living, the 2010 feature film debut of director Deborah Chow, who previously worked on The Mandalorian and is helming every Obi-Wan episode.

Stream The High Cost of Living Here

There are a few more behind-the-scenes connections that could figure into how Braff went from singing about "Guy Love" to ratting a Jedi out to some Stormtroopers. One of Braff's latest projects was the rebooted Cheaper by the Dozen movie that debuted on Disney+, which is of course the same streaming platform that Obi-Wan Kenobi airs on. Braff is also dating Florence Pugh, a star of the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe who recently herself appeared on the Disney+ series Hawkeye. It's all connected, folks!

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