Why The Fifth Brother From The Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ Series Looks So Familiar

Episode 1 of the Disney+ "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series introduces viewers to a trio of Inquisitors hunting surviving Jedi on Tatooine 10 years after Emperor Palpatine instituted Order 66. To fans with knowledge solely of the "Star Wars" movies these characters may seem brand new, but the Inquisitors have existed in extended "Star Wars" canon for some time now, appearing in "Star Wars: Rebels," "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order," and a number of other recent works.

In short, an Inquisitor is a commanding Sith-like soldier working for Darth Vader. The trio featured in the "Obi-Wan" pilot includes Inquisitor Reva a.k.a. the Third Sister (Moses Ingram), their leader the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend), and an Inquisitor named the Fifth Brother.

This isn't the first appearance of the Fifth Brother in a canonical "Star Wars" series — previously, the Fifth Brother was voiced by Philip Anthony-Rodriguez in "Star Wars: Rebels" (via IMDb). In "Obi-Wan," however, the Fifth Brother is portrayed by Sung Kang, who may look familiar from one of the following roles.

In 2002, just three years after his first ever role in a feature film, Sung Kang portrayed one of the three central characters in the independent crime drama "Better Luck Tomorrow" (via IMDb). While a worthwhile movie in its own right, "Better Luck Tomorrow" is now notable in retrospect for introducing moviegoing audiences to both director Justin Lin and Kang's character Han Lue.

Kang eventually reprised a version of his "Better Luck Tomorrow" character in "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift," which marked the first of a number of "Fast" films directed by Lin and one of numerous franchise appearances by Han. The original script for "Tokyo Drift," in fact, made no mention of Han, but over the course of the film's production, Kang worked with Lin to write Han into the movie. In spite of the genre discrepancy between the two films, Lin and Kang both have described the Han of "Better Luck Tomorrow" as the same character featured in the "Fast" franchise (via Entertainment Weekly).

In an interview with GQ about his character, Kang revealed that after he accepted Lin's offer to appear as Han in "Tokyo Drift," he kept his expectations low to avoid disappointment. His stardom, then, came as a shock. "It was totally unexpected. People actually coming up to you and saying 'I love Han.' People saying the character's name, how do you predict that? I had no idea," Kang said.

After he debuted as Han Lue in "Better Luck Tomorrow," but before that character became an iconic part of a blockbuster action franchise, Sung Kang was one of two principal cast members in the indie drama "The Motel," which premiered in 2005.

"The Motel" is based on a short novel titled "Waylaid" by author Ed Lin. For "Waylaid" and two other novels, Lin won three Asian American Literary Awards in total, making him the first author to earn such a distinction (via TaiwaneseAmerican.org). Michael Kang directed "The Motel," which is his feature film debut. In it, Sung Kang — no relation to the director — portrays an unstable man named Sam Kim, a motel guest whose friendship proves integral to the coming-of-age of the motel owners' son Ernest (Jeffrey Chyau).

In an interview with Backstage, Sung Kang described Michael Kang as someone he respects deeply, and his casting in the film as a job he would have regretted not landing. "I really respect Michael and the story; it's such a great story," said Kang of "The Motel" and its director.

By 2012, after proving himself to be a staple of the "Fast & Furious" franchise across multiple films, Sung Kang was effectively an established action star. That year he appeared opposite Sylvester Stallone in the bombastic thriller "Bullet to the Head." In it, he portrays a detective named Taylor Kwon who must work with an underground hitman — Stallone as a character nicknamed, of al things, Jimmy Bobo — to apprehend corrupt businessman Robert Nkomo Morel (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). The film's cast notably also features Jason Momoa as an assassin under the employ of Morel, in one of his first few feature film roles (via IMDb).

Kang told Collider in an interview about "Bullet to the Head" that working with Stallone fulfilled a childhood dream of his. He then recounted how, after filming a scene in which Bobo hits Kwon in the stomach, he felt overjoyed. "I actually, after I went home, I called my dad. 'Dad? Remember when I used to pretend I was Rocky? Remember when I was a kid? Rocky actually punched me!' It's off my bucket list! I actually got to do this with him, you know?" he said. Kang then appeared in "Fast & Furious 6" one year later, further solidifying himself as a Hollywood action star during this span of his career.

Starz crime drama "Power" chronicles the life of James "Ghost" St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), a powerful drug dealer who attempts to balance a healthy family life and a legitimate business with his involvement in the criminal underworld. Sung Kang appears in Seasons 4 through 6 of "Power," which aired between 2017 and 2020, as an attorney named John Mak. As someone firmly on the side of the law, Mak is an antagonist to Ghost throughout his series tenure.

Also in 2020, Kang reprised his "Power" role for a brief, three-episode-long stint on Season 1 of "Power Book II: Ghost," a sequel series with Ghost's son Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) as its lead character. The second season of "Power Book II" has since aired sans Kang, suggesting that the series' producers no longer have plans for John Mak.

Following his recent stint as the Fifth Brother in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," Kang is slated to appear next in "Fast X," keeping his signature franchise role going now that his time on "Power" and its spinoff seems to have concluded.