Last week, there were rumblings across the internet suggesting that Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series was in trouble. Rumors claimed that the show, which was being developed for the Disney+ streaming service, was cancelled. Or that star Ewan McGregor (reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy) had left. However, the truth is now out there and while it certainly sounds like the show has suffered a major setback, it also sounds like Lucasfilm is determined to course correct.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series has been shut down, albeit temporarily, so the scripts can be completely rewritten.
Collider and The Hollywood Reporter both have stories about what’s going on, and /Film can independently confirm the accuracy of both reports via our own sources. The exact specifics remain under lock and key, but we do know that the crew assembled for the series has been let go, sets have struck, and Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy is going back to the drawing board for the overall story of the series. Interestingly, it sounds like one goal of the script overhauls is to shorten the series’ length from six episodes to four.
The silver lining here is that McGregor and director Deborah Chow (who helmed two of the best episodes of The Mandalorian) are still on board. No longer on board is screenwriter Hossein Amini, whose work is reportedly being completely thrown out, with Lucasfilm starting from scratch with a new writer. Collider reports that the hopeful goal is for production to begin this summer, with THR adding that the original scripts sounded a bit too…well, familiar:
One source said the Kenobi story treaded similar ground as Mandalorian, seeing the Jedi master lending a protective hand to a young Luke and perhaps even a young Leia, perhaps mirroring how the Mandalorian took Baby Yoda under his protective custody.
While news like this is frustrating for Star Wars fans, surely they’re getting used to drama behind the scenes. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story underwent massive reshoots. Solo: A Star Wars Story saw its original directors fired late in production and replaced with Ron Howard. Director Colin Trevorrow left the film that would eventually become Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker after turning in several drafts of his script.
At the very least, we can take solace in knowing that the current goal is not to scrap the Obi-Wan series, but to save it. We’ll let you know more as we learn it.
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