Obi-Wan Kenobi Series: First Trailer Drops, and First Look Photos Revealed
Obi-Wan Kenobi is back. But the last time we saw McGregor as the Jedi Master it was 15 years ago in Revenge of the Sith.
Disney is making ten new Star Wars TV shows and one of them is Obi-Wan Kenobi. The show will star Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.
The First Teaser Trailer Drops
In March 2022, eager Star Wars fans were finally treated to the first teaser trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not quite two minutes long, the teaser shows us a defeated, dejected version of the iconic Jedi watching over a young Luke Skywalker. We also get a lot at Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, Moses Ingram as Inquisitor Reva, and Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor. You can watch the trailer below.
New Photos Offer First Look At Obi-Wan Kenobi
The same day as the first teaser for Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered, Entertainment Weekly gave fans a first look at the series with new photos. The images include Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, Moses Ingram as Inquisitor Reva, and of course Ewan McGregor, who graces the cover of the newest issue. You can see some of those photos below.
Hayden Christensen As Anakin Skywalker
Disney has officially announced that Hayden Christensen will c0-star in Obi-Wan Kenobi. He’ll be playing Darth Vader. That means he’ll spend almost all of his time under the Vader armor, but it will be Hayden and not some stunt man inside it.
Hayden will be a series regular on Star Wars: Obi-Wan and a pivotal part of the production.
Ewan McGregor As Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is the official title of the upcoming Disney+ show and Ewan McGregor will star. as Obi-Wan.
The last time we saw McGregor as the Jedi Master it was 15 years ago in Revenge of the Sith. So, what is the timeframe for Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus? According to McGregor, who dropped this bit of knowledge, “The storyline sits between Episode III and Episode IV.” More to the point, the action will take place 8 years after Annakin Skywalker laid waste to all things Jedi thus turning his force into the dark and evil Darth Vader.
There will be no de-aging technique to make McGregor into a younger Obi-Wan. McGregor feels playing an older Obi-Wan will be truer to the character. He told the Men’s Journal, “I want to get closer and closer to how Obi-Wan felt while Alec Guinness was playing him. I feel like I’m grayer and nearer him in age, so it’ll be easier to do that.” He also feels jumping back into the Jedi Master’s life at that particular time will be quite interesting. “Well, his arc will be quite interesting, I think, dealing with that the fact that all the Jedi were slaughtered with the end of Episode III. It’s quite something to get over.”
With these little tidbits of information, do we know where the series will take place? Simply, no. The options for where Obi-Wan will use the force are open for speculation. Perhaps the series will cover Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine, where he lived a hermit-like existence. But at this point, details are very scarce.
See Ewan McGregor On Set
Filming is underway and we now have our first look at the star on the set for the new Star Wars series.
Rest Of The Obi-Wan Kenobi Cast
The full, official cast of Obi-Wan Kenobi has been announced. In addition to Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, the biggest names involved are Joel Edgerton, Kumail Nanjiani, and Bonnie Piesse. Here’s the full cast…
Bonnie Piesse is particularly noteworthy because she played Beru Lars, Luke Skywalker’s would-be aunt in the Star Wars prequels.
The Plot of Obi-Wan Kenobi
We don’t know a lot yet about what the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi will be about, but we have gotten clues from one of The Mandalorian’s exec producers Deborah Chow. She’ll also be directing the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney Plus series and she had this to say about their plans:
“The situation is so complex both for [Obi-Wan] personally and in a way, the state of the galaxy, you sort of need time to explore it. And to be honest there are loads of other stories within that period as well, it’s quite a few years. There is so much going on between [Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope] that hasn’t been explored. The idea of being able to go into a character journey plus the politics and plus all the vastness of the Empire and what’s going on is exciting just because it feels like a proper period of history and sometimes that is hard to do in two hours.”
— Deborah Chow interviewed by the New York Times
Chow seems to be particularly excited about exploring the politics of Star Wars. That’s not something the franchise has done extensively since the last time we saw Obi-Wan Kenobi, in George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels. It’s also one of the things fans hated most about George’s vision of the world before Luke Skywalker.
Possible Spoilers
What follows could be plot spoilers for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Read no further if you don’t want to be spoiled. Click here to jump past the spoilers and continue on.
One big rumor about the plot recently broke on StarWarsLeaks where their scooper claims to know the broad strokes of the entire season. According to their source…
If you’re wondering who Sharad Hett is, he’s a character from the Star Wars comics. In those, he’s a powerful human Jedi who exiles himself to Tatooine and hides among the planet’s Tusken Raiders.
That rumored plot outline sounds plausible, but there’s no way to know if that’s the direction the show will really take, for now.
The Names Behind Obi-Wan Kenobi On Disney Plus
It didn’t take long for Disney+ to announce who would be bringing Obi-Wan Kenobi to the Disney Plus screen. Deborah Chow has been tapped as director of this highly anticipated project. Her work on shows Better Call Saul, Lost In Space, Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, and Reign brought her to The Mandalorian of which Kathleen Kennedy raved. “Based on her phenomenal work developing our characters in The Mandalorian, I’m absolutely confident Deborah is the right director to tell this story.” If her work on The Mandalorian is any indication, then Obi-Wan is in great hands.
Of course, grabbing a great director is key, but so is finding someone who can bring Obi-Wan Kenobi’s story to life. Kennedy chose Hossein Amini to write the series originally, but he was eventually fired and replaced by Joby Harold.
Behind The Scenes Drama
Unfortunately the hiring of Harold has now led to new drama on the Obi-Wan Kenobi production. Word is that Harold and Chow are not getting along at all. WGTC says Chow is not a fan of Harold or his work, and apparently she didn’t have any say in hiring him. Apparently things are so bad the studio may have to step, pick a side, and fire one of them. It’s nothing but bad news for Obi-Wan, which has been plagued by behind the scenes drama and delays from the outset.
When Will Obi-Wan Kenobi Be On Disney Plus?
When will we actually be able to watch the new Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars series? Disney+ has not offered a release date. However, Ewan McGregor has confirmed that the series will start shooting in Spring of 2021 saying, “Spring next year, we start. I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be great, I think.” Disney later confirmed this as well, with production officially beginning in April 2021.
Also known: the series is slotted to be six one-hour shows with no plans, as of yet, to extend it to another season or two. How effects-heavy the series will be will also determine how soon the series will make its Disney+ premiere.
Right now, we know that Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi is using the locations for The Mandalorian, which hasn’t begun filming its third season yet. Rumors suggest that we’ll be seeing The Book of Boba Fett in December 2021 and The Mandalorian season three at the end of 2022. It seems most likely, based on production schedules, that we’ll be seeing Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ for streaming sometime in 2022, however, that’s only speculation at this point.
D23 First Announces Obi-Wan Kenobi On Disney Plus
Billed as the official Ultimate Disney Fan Event, the Disney expo is a bi-annual gathering where members of the Disney Fan Club congregate for three days in Anaheim, CA. It is here that Disney makes all their important announcements and it was here that the president of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy made her revelation: “After secrets and fibs and not being able to talk about it, I am thrilled to bring out a beloved member of the Star Wars family.” The music was queued and out came Ewan McGregor to a shocked and thrilled room.
The excitement hadn’t even simmered when Ewan leaned into his microphone and asked, “Kathleen, could you ask me, in front of all of these people, all of these witnesses, can you please ask me am I going to play Obi-Wan Kenobi again.” And much to the delight of the sold-out crowd, she did. His one-word response? “Yes!”
It was the ultimate relief to McGregor who, by his own admission, had to keep the secret for a few years. Since the initial announcement, McGregor has been asked countless times about keeping the secret and how he felt finally being able to let the world know Obi-Wan was back. His general response to all, “It’s a f****** massive relief. Because for four years I’ve been having to lie to people about it.”
According to McGregor, talks between himself, Lucasfilm, and Disney have been on-going for years. He initially told them he’d be very interested in reprising his role as Obi-Wan and for a while, it seemed like the big screen would be where he’d make his return. Originally, Obi-Wan was slated to be the very first film outside of ‘The Skywalker Saga’ but with the disappointing box office of Solo: A Star Wars Story, plans for an Obi-Wan feature film fell apart. McGregor himself confirmed the initial film idea to ComingSoon.Net. “It wasn’t always going to be a series, not initially. When we first started talking about, that wasn’t really in the cards but everything’s changed so much, so quickly. It’s really exciting that it is now. I’m really into the idea to be able to tell the story over several hours instead of just one hit. I think it’s going to be quite cool.”
