With The Book of Boba Fett now completed, Disney and Lucasfilm are taking a break from Star Wars content for a little bit. In late May, we’ll be graced with probably the most anticipated Star Wars series of the year. Obi-Wan Kenobi will drop on May 25, forty-five years after the debut of Alec Guinness as the character in A New Hope, then titled Star Wars. It also has been seventeen years since Ewan McGregor last starred as the younger version of the character in Revenge of the Sith.
For this post, we thought we’d go over all the information we have on the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. We hope you stay with us as it will be a long one.
Let’s begin with the series announcement.
Editor’s Note: We’re including the above spoiler warning in case our sources are correct. Also, we will not be including where the series was filmed.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Announcement
At D23 in the middle of August 2019, Kathleen Kennedy, the President of Lucasfilm, and actor Ewan McGregor announced that Obi-Wan Kenobi would be returning to our screens in his own Disney+ series. At the time the announcement was made, it was said that the show would take place eight years after Revenge of the Sith, placing the film in roughly 11BBY (Before Battle of Yavin).
Originally, the series was going to be a film about the character where he was going to be defending a young Luke Skywalker during his youth. Stephen Daldry was going to direct the film, with McGregor not signed on but willing to reprise the role. These details date back as far as February 2013. Daldry’s hiring was reported four years later in August 2017. Hossein Amini signed on to the project that same year [2017]. All this is according to the series’ background section on its Wikipedia page.
However, when the film didn’t manifest, fans started to wonder what was going on. Had The film been cancelled? Did Ewan not want to play the character again? Was Lucasfilm having problems getting the project off the ground?
The key to the Obi-Wan legacy is the story you’re telling. Given the character’s history with both Anakin and Luke Skywalker and his time as a Jedi, the tone has to be set right for the tale to be heartfelt and timeless. Also, the reason Obi-Wan Kenobi film was cancelled was due to the financial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Determined to fulfil its obligation to the fans who had waited years, Lucasfilm moved to turn the proposed film into a series for Disney+. McGregor officially entered negotiations to feature in the show in mid-August 2019, prior to his and Kennedy’s appearances at D23.
Continuing Development Issues
As development and pre-production started, the project ran into further issues after Kennedy reportedly was dissatisfied with the series’ scripts. A new writer was hired with The Mandalorian Season 1 director, Deborah Chow still in the director’s chair for the entire mini-series. The original was the same one who was hired to write the screenplay for the film, Hossein Amini.
Reportedly, one of the proposed plot threads involved Obi-Wan protecting Luke, which was identical to The Mandalorian Season 1 where Din Djarin protects the child he later learns in Season 2 is named Grogu.
After actors conducted screen tests with Ewan, things started to tense with rumours that Lucasfilm had axed the project as the crew had received instructions to return to their homes. There was also speculation that the number of episodes had been cut from six episodes to four. However, McGregor corrected the situation and said that the series would still have six episodes. As a bonus, he stated that they were taking their time with the scripts and that the series’ production would not be affected by The Rise of Skywalker.
Entering Production… Finally, But COVID-19 And Casting
At last, the series got a new writer in Joby Harold in April 2020. Filming was slated to begin in October that same year but was prevented from doing so due to COVID-19 and was pushed back until March 2021.
On December 10, 2020, at Disney’s Investor Day event, it was announced that the series would be called Obi-Wan Kenobi and that Ewan McGregor would reunite with prequel co-star Hayden Christensen in what Kennedy referred to as “the rematch of the century.” Christensen would reprise his role as Darth Vader in the series.
In March 2021, the official main cast of Obi-Wan Kenobi was released to social media:
There is possibly more cast that comes in and out of the six episodes. The above graphic was what was announced in late March 2021. There have other cast members that have come out since then. But it was not announced officially by Lucasfilm, so for now, is unofficial. The list of the confirmed cast can also be found on the Obi-Wan Kenobi Wookieepedia series page.
Outside of McGregor, Christensen, Joel Edgerton, and Bonnie Piesse who all reprise their characters from the prequel trilogy films, the rest of the cast’s characters are currently unknown. That brings us to rumoured characters.
Rumoured Characters
While we don’t have a synopsis yet, it’s hard to tell who the new characters are. Though, there has been speculation of who some of the actors are playing. There have been other small rumours over time as well, which we’ll go over. Please bear in mind, everything in this section is purely rumour for now.
Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa
As Obi-Wan Kenobi was going into production, Andrew Gilman of the Direct reported that one-half of the Skywalker twins, Leia Organa, had been cast with Vivien Lyra Blair in the role. This has NOT been confirmed in the seven months since the rumour dropped. If we’re honest, we don’t believe Leia will be present in the series unless her adoptive father, Bail Organa, appears in some form. Though, we could be majorly wrong.
Vivien worked alongside Pedro Pascal and Sung Kang in We Can Be Heroes, played Guppy, the daughter of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Pascal is currently playing Din Djarin in The Mandalorian. Kang is best known for his role as Han Lue in The Fast and the Furious franchise. He will play an unknown character. It’s been speculated he’ll play one of Vader’s Inquisitors.
As for Luke, it’s uncertain as very little has come out about him. Though, one clue does lead us to believe he’ll show up. This is due to the presence of Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, reprising their roles as Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun Lars, Anakin’s stepbrother, and stepsister-in-law, respectively. Why would they be in the series if their nephew wasn’t involved?
According to a recent leak also by Andrew Gilman of the Direct, the first two episodes will involve Inquisitors and BOTH the Skywalker twins. Moreover, this indicates we could see them, but not together. This cannot happen until A New Hope. What’s more, is that apparently, Vader doesn’t enter the fantasy until the third episode. If you thought him being pissed in Rogue One was awesome, this will (allegedly) be heavier. This also leaves the possibility of Leia and Obi-Wan meeting. Gilman’s article mentions that the princess – in A New Hope – seems to be familiar with Kenobi.
Inquisitors
Vader’s forces will be made up of the Inquisitors, the Jedi hunters we saw in Star Wars Rebels, and the video game Jedi: Fallen Order. These men and women were once Jedi who later fell to the Dark Side. Instead of becoming Sith, they were recruited to hunt the last of their brethren.
One rumour that has popped up over the last few days is that Rupert Friend will play The Grand Inquisitor, according to Christian Hubbard of Full Circle Cinema. He’s the leader of the Inquisitors, who commits suicide in the Star Wars Rebels Season 1 finale. In Rebels, he was voiced by Jason Isaacs, who would later go on to play Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery. His most famous role to date is playing Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter.
Here’s a look at the animated version of the character:
Speaking of Inquisitors, it is rumoured that Sung Kang and Moses Ingram will be players within the Inquisitor faction. Now, we cannot remember where we saw the Moses Ingram “leak.” It doesn’t matter as we’re probably wrong.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Questions
To wrap up this post, we’re going to be asking a few questions about the show.
- Will Ahsoka get a reference in Obi-Wan Kenobi?
It’s possible Ahsoka will be referenced as Ewan recently said (according to Patrick Cavanaugh of Comic Book) he had scenes with Hayden where he’s Anakin. This indicates there might be flashbacks to the Clone Wars.
2. Will we see Owen Lars’ hatred for Kenobi? How will Beru play into the story?
Given that Owen is in the series, we would say, yes, we will. If the comics were anything to go off, he blamed Obi-Wan for Anakin’s “death.” As for Beru, it’s hard to say right now. Though, she was always the mother figure in Luke’s life, so she might act as the buffer between her husband, Obi-Wan, and Luke.
3. Will we see familiar faces like Rex and Cody or get references to Padmé, Palpatine, etc?
As much as we would LOVE to see Temuera Morrison as a live-action Rex, we’re not sure whether we will as Obi-Wan Kenobi would’ve been filming around the same time as The Book of Boba Fett and he also had commitments to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Unless there was some arrangement we doubt we’ll see him physically perform either Rex, Cody or any clone. Though, we could see him voice the characters as he did with Boba Fett for the Original Trilogy special editions. It’ll also depend on whether there are relevant flashbacks.
To answer the rest of the question, there might be a reference to Padmé. Palpatine is most likely to get a reference as “The Emperor.”
