Kenobi: A Star Wars Story wasn’t to be, but the Jedi legend will live on thanks to Disney+.
Cast your mind back to the summer, when San Diego was playing host to its annual Comic-Con extravaganza, and you may recall an announcement from Disney and Lucasfilm that, yes, an Obi-Wan TV show was in the works. And yes, it’ll herald the long-anticipated return of Ewan McGregor as the honorable Jedi.
Turns out McGregor spent four years sitting on that secret, and it wasn’t exactly a picnic. You need only take a peek into the WGTC archives to realize that the Scottish actor has patiently solicited questions about a possible Obi-Wan reprisal for years, knowing full well that Lucasfilm was secretly plotting a comeback for his Jedi hero. But the Doctor Sleep star was sworn to secrecy, which left him feeling pretty embarrassed.
Here’s what he told Ellen guest host Howie Mandel:
It’s awkward because the studios and the franchises, they want to keep everything totally secret, of course, which I understand. But as the person being asked over and over and over again, ‘Are you? Would you do it again, would you do it again?’ And I’m already talking to them about it, but I can’t say that I am. So like for four years I was saying, ‘Well, I’d be happy to do it again if they — I’m just waiting for the call’ … It was embarrassing.
Frankly, we’re just happy that the Star Wars veteran is getting the chance to reprise his world-famous role. And the fact that Obi-Wan has been repackaged as a Disney+ series is a sign of the times – a sign that George Lucas himself predicted a long time ago, in a galaxy really rather close.
It’ll likely be on our screens late next year (or early 2021), long after The Mandalorian has helped jump-start this new era of Disney+. The latter series just dropped its final teaser trailer, in which you can see Pedro Pascal’s lawless bounty hunter wandering the galactic plains in search of… well, we’re not quite sure. Not yet, at least. Expect that one to debut November 12th.
