The overall response to Obi-Wan Kenobi may have been positive, but there is one complaint that many fans seem to share: they want to see more. For some, that desire comes from a love of the characters, especially after showrunner Deborah Chow crafted a suitable bridge between the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy, forcing Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan to face for the first time his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker in the form of Darth Vader, played by Hayden Christensen. For others, that desire comes from a sense that the series rushed through events, not giving viewers enough time to understand Kenobi’s dire situation.
Whatever they wanted from a continuation of Obi-Wan’s story, fans almost got more – a whole lot more. Speaking exclusively with The Direct, screenwriter Stuart Beattie revealed that Lucasfilm originally planned an entire trilogy of movies starring McGregor as Obi-Wan. “Yeah, Ewan was on board, everyone,” Beattie assured the outlet. But one problem stood in the way: Solo: A Star Wars Story. When that prequel movie failed to meet expectations, Lucasfilm decided to scrap their plans and start anew, changing the three-movie epic into one six-hour television season.
Originally, Beattie had planned for a trilogy to connect the defeated Obi-Wan of Revenge of the Sith to the wizened teacher ready to sacrifice himself in A New Hope. For the writer, there are “three different evolutions that the character has to make in order to go from Obi-Wan to Ben.” The first movie contained much of what made it into the show, involving Obi-Wan learning to surrender to the will of the force and, as Beattie puts it, “[l]eave the kid alone.”
But the second movie in the trilogy is what really excited the writer, as it gave him a chance to explore universal themes about one’s end and purpose. That movie would have followed Obi-Wan’s struggle to accept that he will die, which sets up his sacrifice to save Luke in A New Hope. In that movie, “Obi-Wan now has to come to terms with his own mortality, somehow in a prophecy, or Qui-Gon telling him, ‘There’s going to come a moment where you’re gonna have to sacrifice yourself for the good’.”
