Something is up with the Obi-Wan Disney Plus show. The announcement that Ewan McGregor would be returning to the role was met with a universal outburst of positivity. But lately, it seems that there’s trouble behind the scenes.
Our first inkling that something was wrong came from a dramatic report stating that Lucasfilm had cancelled the show. That story was then debunked by a separate outlet, but a new development may link the series’ problems to the location they’ve chosen to shoot in.
Given the timeframe in the Star Wars universe, the primary setting for the show will be the planet Tatooine, where Obi-Wan is lying low as ‘Ben’ and keeping an eye on the young Luke Skywalker. In the original and prequel trilogies, most of the Tatooine scenes were shot in Tunisia (with a few in the USA). But the current political situation in Tunisia makes it difficult to film there, so the Obi-Wan team have looked elsewhere.
According to a recent report, their plans were to recreate Tatooine in the Australian desert, and now, LRM Online claims that they know the real reason for the delay, with their sources telling them that the recent Australian bushfires have forced the location team to look elsewhere, which would involve pushing back the start of the shoot. And given that Ewan McGregor has multiple projects scheduled, any delay may mean this window of opportunity for Obi-Wan could pass.
Personally, I’d take this rumor with a pinch of salt. As a comment on the article points out, Australia’s enormous desert areas aren’t affected by the bushfires as, well, they’re deserts and there’s not a lot to burn. In addition, it hasn’t been confirmed that Obi-Wan is even planning on shooting on location there. After all, the Australian desert looks quite different to the Tunisian one. Having said that, a lot of the blue and green screen scenes from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were shot in Sydney’s Fox Studios Australia, so perhaps this may be a case of mixed messages.
Right now, it’s difficult to tell what’s going on. I just hope that whatever it is, it can be solved soon. Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan was one of the highlights of the Prequel Trilogy and it’d be great to see him perform material that’s worthy of his skills.
