Hello there..
Mid 2019 saw the exciting confirmation that Ewan McGregor would be starring in a new Star Wars project, reprising his role as Jedi master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Initially the project was pegged to be a feature film in the same vein as Solo, or Rogue One, but following the commercial failure of Solo in 2018 this was reimagined as a limited series for Disney+.
Throughout its development McGregor hasn’t been the only cast member confirmed for the project. December 2020 saw the confirmation of Hayden Christensens shakily anticipated return as Anakin Skywalker turned Darth Vader. March of 2021, Kumail Nanjiani, Sung Kang, Simone Kessell amongst others were confirmed to be playing new characters for the show, Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse were also confirmed to be returning as young Luke Skywalkers caretakers.
If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
As of late there has been somewhat a resurgence of positivity surrounding the prequal trilogy, possibly due to the amount of time that’s passed and possibly due to Star Wars fans having their sights focused on more recent Star Wars efforts..
Regardless of the cold reception a lot of the prequal content received, there’s no doubting Ewan McGregors performance as Obi-Wan was an unwavering high point. Christensens performance as Anakin has always been a heavily divisive point of conversation amongst fans, but with the recent successful string of Star Wars entries released to Disney+ it would be impossible for Lucasfilm and the producers to re-enter the Vader actor back into the fold without doing justice to not only Hayden, but to the Sith Lord Vader himself.
The series is said to be set ten years after the events of Episode III and will follow Obi-Wan as he looks over a young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine. We can only hope this will serve as the perfect connective tissue between this slightly older, lonelier McGregor iteration and the classic Alec Guinness portrayal of Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Directed by Deborah Chow with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprising their roles and John Williams returning to score, the 6 episode love-letter will premiere on Disney+ on May 25th 2022.