Obi-Wan writer Hossein Amini confirms the Disney+ TV show will begin production in summer 2020. After years of endless speculation, Lucasfilm finally confirmed Ewan McGregor’s return as the fan-favorite Jedi Knight during the D23 Expo this past August. Originally, the project was conceived as one of the studio’s anthology films, but it was eventually reworked into a miniseries for the streaming service (most likely due to Solo’s underwhelming box office haul). It’s one of three Star Wars TV shows coming to Disney+, with The Mandalorian director Deborah Chow calling the shots.
This has been a long time coming for Lucasfilm (McGregor publicly lied about his involvement for years), so it’s nice to see the show coming into fruition. It’s unknown when Obi-Wan will premiere, but the series seems to be pretty far along; at D23, it was revealed all the scripts had been written. With a creative team slowly, but surely, coming together, the studio is targeting a summer start date for production.
In an interview with Discussing Film, Amini was asked about Obi-Wan. He obviously couldn’t say too much, but he did point to July for when the cameras will start rolling:
This schedule would put Obi-Wan on track for a likely debut in 2021, right in the middle of Disney’s self-imposed Star Wars movie hiatus. It isn’t surprising they’re looking to get the ball rolling on the series sooner rather than later; fans have been clamoring for McGregor’s return for the better part of the past seven years, and there was a great deal of excitement following the D23 announcement. Since there won’t be any new films to look forward to for a while, it makes sense to have Obi-Wan ready to go during the movies’ upcoming down period. Right now, anticipation is high for The Mandalorian (which has a second season in development already), but Obi-Wan could be the most intriguing of the Star Wars Disney+ shows. There’s potential here for an intimate character drama that’s unlike anything the franchise has seen.
The plan is to start shooting in July, Ewan McGregor is signed on. I think he’s already said that it spans the period between episodes 3 and 4, so sort of after the fall of the republic and the massacre of the Jedi before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. It’s fascinating in the sense that it’s a period where there is a lot of change in the galaxy and a lot of hardship.
With July circled for production, Lucasfilm will spend the next several months fleshing out the rest of the show’s cast. Right now, McGregor is the only confirmed actor, and even though Obi-Wan will be a small-scale Star Wars production, odds are he won’t be carrying the show solo. Lately, there’s been speculation Joel Edgerton will reprise Owen Lars on Obi-Wan, but nothing’s been confirmed on that front yet. It’ll also be interesting to see if Disney can get Liam Neeson back as Qui-Gon Jinn, as canon’s revealed Obi-Wan kept in touch with his master during his Tatooine exile. There are still a lot of pieces to fall into place.
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Source: Discussing Film
