No good idea is ever left on the Hollywood scrapheap for too long, and Disney Plus Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi is a perfect example. The project first entered development as a feature film, with Academy Award nominated filmmaker Stephen Daldry in talks to helm the Anthology spinoff back in the summer of 2017.
Much like James Mangold’s Boba Fett, though, the planned solo adventure for Ewan McGregor’s exiled Jedi was scrapped when Solo bombed at the box office and killed the Anthology experiment for good. However, both of the iconic characters have managed to find a new lease of life on streaming, with The Book of Boba Fett coming in December and Obi-Wan Kenobi set to premiere next year.
It’s been a long time coming, and fans have been clamoring to see it happen since almost the second Revenge of the Sith faded to black. Looking at the cast and crew director Deborah Chow has in place, there’s no reason to expect anything other than Obi-Wan Kenobi living up to even the loftiest of expectations.
In a recent interview with Deadline following his Primetime Emmy win, the leading man teased that we should expect an altogether different version of the title hero, who we’ll find living in isolation a decade after his bitter split from protege Anakin Skywalker, but years away from becoming mentor to his son Luke.
The actor said that “it was a different experience than making the original three films that I did”, which is good to hear, because he’s hardly been shy in voicing his thoughts on the things that irked him about shooting the prequels.