After six appearances across Disney and Lucasfilm’s rebooted Skywalker saga, Obi-Wan Kenobi has become a bona fide fan-favorite among the Star Wars community. Originally portrayed by the late, great Alec Guinness across episodes IV, V, and VI, Ewan McGregor donned those iconic Jedi robes all throughout the prequel saga, and was arguably one of the few highlights to be gleaned from The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. Now, after much demand from the franchise’s dedicated and massive fanbase, the studio will finally be bringing us a spinoff film revolving around the character.
That’s still a ways away, mind you, but could we possibly see old Obi-Wan show up on the big screen before then? Perhaps. For some time now, there’ve been rumors floating around that Kenobi might have a role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, coming back as a Force Ghost to impart wisdom on young Rey, and perhaps even Luke, but to date, there’s been no confirmation of that. And we expect things to remain that way until December. But that doesn’t mean the evidence won’t continue to mount.
Though this is hardly confirmation of Kenobi being involved, a new Black Series action figure has been released today and it’s of none other than Obi-Wan (see below). What’s interesting about it, though, is that it’s almost certainly a Force Ghost and given that it’s being released alongside all of the new toys/merchandise for The Last Jedi, it’s got fans speculating once again. Not to mention that the description for the figure reads as so (note that it doesn’t mention Luke in specific when it says he “remains a mentor to those strong with the Force”):
“Even after his untimely demise, Obi-Wan Kenobi remains a mentor to those strong with the Force. This 6-inch scale The Black Series figure features articulated movement and is based on the Force Ghost as seen in the films.”
Again, this is by no means confirmation that we’ll be seeing the Jedi Master back in action this December, but when you couple it with all of the other evidence that’s been popping up (Obi-Wan’s voice featured in The Last Jedi teaser and he was also heard in Rey’s vision in The Force Awakens), it’s not too far-fetched to think this may pan out. Of course, there’s also the fact that we’ve heard other Force Ghosts could appear in the film, too, like Anakin Skywalker.
Whether any of this amounts to anything remains to be seen, but one way or another, we’ll find out fairly soon, as Star Wars: The Last Jedi debuts on December 15th. Beyond that, the Star Wars faithful can also look forward to Ron Howard’s Han Solo anthology pic and Colin Trevorrow’s trilogy-capper, Episode IX. Neither project has been given an official title just yet – that we know of, mind you – and the same can be said of the newly-unveiled Obi-Wan Kenobi movie, which has Stephen Daldry on its radar as a potential director.
