UPDATE 8/23/19 – The Obi-Wan Kenobi show was officially confirmed at the D23 Expo, with Ewan McGregor in attendance. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that they begin production next year, with McGregor set to reprise the role. The show will take place after the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Scripts are written, shooting begins next year on the Kenobi project! #starwars #d23expo pic.twitter.com/zrkkh51abI
— Star Wars Explained ? Dragon Con (@StarWarsExplain) August 24, 2019
The rumors have been swirling for years, crescendoed in the past few months, and are now (mostly) confirmed. According to Variety, Ewan McGregor is officially in talks to rejoin the Star Wars universe as Obi-Wan Kenobi for a limited series on the upcoming streaming service Disney+.
This is great news for Star Wars fans. Even prequel haters generally tend to agree that McGregor’s performance as Kenobi–a famous Jedi knight, master to Anakin Skywalker, and eventual mentor to Luke–is a standout. McGregor portrayed the prequel-era version of the character in three films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The part was originally played by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy, who tackled an older version of the character.
According to Variety, no additional information about the series is currently available. In the past, there were rumors that Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry would direct the series, but his name was not mentioned in the report. Disney+ has a planned panel at next week’s D23 conference in Anaheim, where we’ll likely get our first official news from the Mouse House about the series.
If the rumors are true, the Ob-Wan series would be the third official live-action series set for the Disney+ service. This November, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian will premiere, followed by a series based on Rogue One‘s Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna. McGregor will next appear in The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep–based on the novel by Stephen King–out this November.
We’re thrilled to hear that McGregor is stepping back into the galaxy far, far away, and excited to learn what else Disney has in store for us after The Rise of Skywalker closes out the episodic films in December. With McGregor aboard, the future of Star Wars is looking bright.
Header Image Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm