Deborah Chow, executive producer and director of Disney’s Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, recently suggested there may be more story left to tell in the time between Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars: A New Hope.
On the Deadline podcast Crew Call, Chow explained that Obi-Wan Kenobi originally was conceived as a film. However, the previous director left the project and Disney decided that a six-episode series would be beneficial for exploring the various characters. Chow also described how difficult it was to shoot Obi-Wan Kenobi at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, before a vaccine was available.
Chow said, “It was pretty intense,” noting that she did all of her preproduction in Toronto and didn’t meet her creative department heads in person until filming began. She continued, “Anything with background was always stressful because we had little Leia [Vivien Lyra Blair] running around.” However, Chow was happy to report that production was never shut down due to illness.
When asked about whether there could be a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chow said, “This was conceived as a limited series; it is closed.” However, she added, “There’s 10 more years before New Hope, so never say never.”
Actually, allow us to say “never” if no one else will.
First of all, Obi-Wan Kenobi had a pretty lukewarm reception on Disney Plus. It seemed that for everything the show got right — an extremely temperamental Vader, some frightening rematches between Obi-Wan and his old padawan — there were a host of other issues, including: the mental gymnastics necessary for Leia to have known Obi-Wan as a child yet having to explain who she is in her message to him in A New Hope; a host of ridiculous moments, including Leia hiding in a trenchcoat; and general poor production values. But the biggest problem here is that the show seemed to labor through six episodes to get Obi-Wan and Vader back to where they already were at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
Thankfully, it seems another season of Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a priority at Disney, no matter how many starships Ewan McGregor wishes upon.
