An Obi-Wan Kenobi series is officially announced for the Disney+ streaming service. Talk about Ewan McGregor’s return to the galaxy far, far away began almost as soon as Disney bought Lucasfilm back in 2012. A fan-favorite for his turns as Obi-Wan in the prequel trilogy, many viewers expressed hope McGregor would come back to the franchise for another project. It was long believed Obi-Wan would be the focus of one of the Star Wars spinoff films. But in the wake of last year’s Solo flopping at the box office, Lucasfilm put other anthology movies on hold and refocused their upcoming slate.
Earlier this year, it was reported the Obi-Wan movie had been retooled as a Disney+ series. Star Wars already has a prominent presence on the platform with the upcoming Mandalorian and the announced Rogue One prequel series with Diego Luna. It was only a week ago McGregor reportedly signed a contract to cement his Star Wars return, but that was quickly changed to the actor simply being in talks. Now, fans can officially celebrate the return of the Jedi.
During D23 today, it was announced McGregor will star in an Obi-Wan series for Disney+, making it the third Star Wars show for the service. It was revealed all scripts for the series have been written and production should begin next year.
In typical Lucasfilm fashion, plot details (or even a title) are being kept under wraps for now. Logic would dictate this show will be set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, when Obi-Wan was in exile on Tatooine watching over Luke Skywalker. At first glance, that doesn’t appear to be the most thrilling premise for a Star Wars show, but franchise canon has shown Kenobi’s time on the desert planet was more exciting than one might presume, so there’s potential here for something interesting. Perhaps the series could be a smaller, character-driven drama as Obi-Wan wrestles with the guilt he feels about failing Anakin. A story like that may not fly as a major studio tentpole release a la The Rise of Skywalker, but seems perfect for the Disney+ platform, where there’s more leeway to experiment.
This will, in all likelihood, be McGregor’s swan song as Obi-Wan. Kenobi’s life has been extensively covered across multiple areas of canon, and there are only so many other stories Lucasfilm can tell involving him. Unlike The Mandalorian, which already has a second season in development, the Obi-Wan show seems better suited as a miniseries that fills in some gaps fans have been wondering about for years. That could change of course, but whether this is just a single season or multiple, viewers will be very happy to see Obi-Wan again.
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Source: Disney
