While the Skywalker saga is wrapping up on the big screen with December’s The Rise Of Skywalker, Disney is getting more aggressive about expanding the small screen Star Wars universe on the Disney+ streaming service. But the latest addition to the Star Wars live-action TV lineup is perhaps the most anticipated of all, as it involves the return of one of the most beloved figures in franchise history: Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
THR confirmed the news that McGregor is in talks to reprise his role as the legendary Jedi and General in a Disney+ TV series, marking the first time he’s donned the robe and lightsaber since 2005’s Revenge Of The Sith. While the Star Wars prequels remain a divisive issue among fans, most of us can agree on the casting of McGregor as Obi-Wan, who brought the same calm intensity to the role as its originator, Sir Alec Guinness (not to mention a dead-on approximation of Guinness’ delivery).
There has long been an appetite for McGregor to return as Obi-Wan, with rumours swirling for years of a movie in development, rumours that were finally confirmed in 2017 with the news of a standalone Obi-Wan movie with Stephen Daldry directing. That project, along with several others, seems to have been quietly reshuffled following the underperformance of Solo: A Star Wars Story at the box office in 2018.
Disney has since played their big-screen plans for Star Wars close to the chest, choosing instead to put all the public focus on the closing chapter of the Skywalker saga with The Rise of Skywalker, presumably to deflect perceptions that the franchise was getting watered down with frequent movie releases. They’ve meanwhile pivoted to live-action TV, with The Mandalorian looking to launch along with the Disney+ streaming service, to be followed by an untitled series that will focus on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
While no details about the series are currently available, it’s easy to imagine an ongoing story that fills in the gaps between Kenobi’s self-imposed exile (and adopting of the name “Ben”) in the wastelands of Tattooine. And while Solo: A Star Wars Story may be the reason we didn’t get the Obi-Wan movie, it coincidentally featured a cameo from one of his mortal enemies in the form of Darth Maul, essentially bridging the gap between the prequels and their rematch – which we’ve already seen on an episode of Star Wars: Rebels. Guinness was 64 at the time of the original Star Wars release, while McGregor is currently 48 years of age, so they can run this one for as many seasons as they want.
We’ll update this as more details become available. In the meantime, can we interest you in an article about the rules of Force ghosts? We could yet see some in the Obi-Wan series, since his mentor Qui-Gonn is known to have mastered the art of ghostly apparitions.
