Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers from the final episode of “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Fans could not wait for “Obi-Wan Kenobi” to return.

It has been 10 years since Disney purchased the Bay Area’s Lucasfilm, kicking off a new era for the franchise with both an impending “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, picking up after 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” and an onslaught of spin-offs, prequels and new stories set within the galaxy far, far away first created by George Lucas.

While fans excitedly debated which characters should get a spin-off spotlight (Boba Fett! Yoda! The Rancor Keeper!), it seemed like the one thing they could agree on was the desire to see actor Ewan McGregor return to the role of Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi mentor.

McGregor first took on the role in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy from 1999 to 2005, playing the younger version of the Jedi Master whom audiences first met in 1977’s “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” as played by Alec Guinness. While the prequels themselves proved polarizing (to put it politely), McGregor’s portrayal of Kenobi wasn’t, and the actor gamely fielded questions for the better part of a decade saying he was open to reprising the role.

During that span, however, the “Star Wars” fandom — always vocal, always opinionated — grew more toxic, due to disagreements on the relative quality of Disney’s continuation of the franchise (2017’s “The Last Jedi” remains a hot-button topic, while 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was its first outright bomb). Soon, the loudest, angriest voices came to dominate the discussion in online forums and social media.

It was into this environment that Disney+ released “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, a six-part miniseries filling in an untold story set between the franchise’s first two trilogies.

And yet, in what is increasingly the status quo with any project such as this, the days following the show’s double-episode debut on May 27 were focused on the online backlash surrounding the character of Reva, played by actor Moses Ingram, a “Sith Inquisitor” determined to track down Kenobi wherever he was hiding. Ingram, a Black actor, was subjected to such racist rhetoric that McGregor himself released a video calling out anyone who attacked Ingram as “no ‘Star Wars’ fan” at all.

Imagine your behavior reaching such toxic lows that Obi-Wan Kenobi has to tell you he’s disappointed in you. Yet it absolutely needed to be said.

The shame of it is that the heated discourse drowned out what has been a remarkably compelling piece of “Star Wars” storytelling — one that uses its long-form canvas to sketch in areas of the universe rarely depicted until now. And not only do we have McGregor reprising a signature role he is revered in by several generations of fans (and which he slipped back into with startling ease), but there’s also the return of Hayden Christensen as both Anakin Skywalker and his Sith Lord alter ego Darth Vader.

This too is a bit of a happy homecoming. Christensen drew his share of barbs from angry fans during his prequel tenure (2002’s “Attack of the Clones” and 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith”) for not measuring up to the version of Anakin that fans had built up in their minds during the long gap between the original and prequel trilogies (actor Jake Lloyd, who played 10-year-old Anakin in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace,” underwent similar struggles). But in the interim,the kids who grew up with Anakin in the films and the “Clone Wars” animated seriessimply saw him for who he was, not who they wanted him to be, and embraced him in the role.

As to the story itself, while Kenobi being drafted into service by Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) to retrieve his kidnapped daughter Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) no doubt pushes the boundaries of canon established in prior films, it doesn’t outright break it. More important, given that every single thing that came after 1977 represents some degree of retconning (despite Lucas’ protestations to the contrary, Anakin wasn’t Luke Skywalker’s father when he made the first movie), the only question is how well those retcons are finessed, and on that front Kenobi steps quite nimbly.

In the finale, a previously unseen lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Vader lends further context to their final battle on the Death Star 10 years later. Reva moves past the grief from her tragic past, as does Kenobi, who embraces a new willingness to keep the fires of the Jedi burning. After this, we are finally introduced to the Obi-Wan of “A New Hope.” And in a development telegraphed from the start, but no less welcome for it, viewers got the belated return of Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn — reprising his role in live action for the first time since 1999 — ready to impart a final lesson to his once-apprentice as a glowing Force spirit.

As directed by Deborah Chow, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was a compelling revisitation of a beloved actor in a beloved role. Whether there is another season or not (McGregor has been open about his willingness to come back), this particular journey reached a satisfying endpoint. And while there has been much clamor for the franchise to leave behind the trappings and milieu of the nine-part “Skywalker Saga,” this show demonstrates all the ways the “Star Wars” universe can revisit familiar faces and places without feeling like a simple retread.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi”(TV-14) is available to stream on Disney+.