TV is going to be the place to be for Star Wars action in the not-too-distant future thanks to Disney+. Even if one Star Wars TV show is ending soon, more are on the way, and now Obi-Wan Kenobi is apparently getting his own series on the upcoming Disney streaming service. Unlike Solo, this won't be a case of Star Wars recasting an iconic character for a new project. Ewan McGregor, who of course played starred in the prequel trilogy, will reportedly be back as Obi-Wan!
Details about the series are currently scarce, but confirmation that it's happening (via Deadline) follows years of rumors than an Obi-Wan solo project would happen. For a long time, the odds seemed best that Obi-Wan would get his own movie, if anything, but recent rumors have suggested that he'd be getting a show. Now, fans can seemingly look forward to Ewan McGregor taking up the lightsaber yet again.
The Obi-Wan series reportedly does not yet have a title, and there are big questions about what's in store. After all, as far as Star Wars fans knew, Obi-Wan spent the 20 years or so between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope on Tatooine, watching over Luke Skywalker from afar.
Star Wars Rebels fans knew that the galactic conflict came to Obi-Wan ahead of A New Hope, thanks to Maul arriving on the desert planet to challenge his former nemesis. It was an epic showdown, but one that didn't involve an adventure back into the stars. So what is going to happen with the show?
Well, we may not have a lot in the way of confirmed details, but we can make some educated guesses. For one thing, my money is on this Obi-Wan project running as a limited series rather than an ongoing show, sort of along the lines of Loki. Ewan McGregor is a veritable movie star, and I imagine that he'd be much more able to commit to a limited series of 6-10 episodes or so than a show that could just keep on going.
For another thing, I'm guessing that the show will be set between the end of Revenge of the Sith and Maul's arrival on Tatooine in Star Wars Rebels, and closer to Revenge of the Sith than Rebels. By the time Obi-Wan appeared on Rebels -- which was pretty close in the timeline to the beginning of A New Hope -- he was already looking an awful lot like the original Alec Guinness version of the character.
Ewan McGregor is 48-years-old, and the years following Revenge of the Sith mark one of the biggest gaps in current Star Wars canon. For me, it makes the most sense for Star Wars to come up with an Obi-Wan adventure in that gap, which would avoid contradicting canon and wouldn't require Ewan McGregor to be aged up to match Rebels and A New Hope. Of course, that does still leave a bunch of other questions.
Did the galactic conflict come to Obi-Wan on Tatooine long before Maul tracked him down fo their final showdown, and the series stays on Tatooine? If so, could we get a look at a Luke Skywalker older than the Revenge of the Sith baby and younger than the teen from Rebels? Despite the tease from Solo: A Star Wars Story and their many conflicts in The Clone Wars, I'm guessing the series won't involve Maul unless it takes Obi-Wan away from Tatooine. Otherwise, it would contradict Star Wars Rebels.
If the series does take Obi-Wan away from Tatooine, what could happen to get him to abandon his post as Luke's distant guardian? Could something happen that's so serious that Obi-Wan would willingly leave Tatooine? Or could he be taken from the planet against his will?
Honestly, it would have been easier to try and predict what would happen in an Obi-Wan-centric movie. A series -- even if only a limited series -- will have a lot more screentime to answer questions.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in Star Wars and exciting Disney+ news, and be sure to check out our fall TV premiere schedule for some viewing options while we wait for the streaming service to launch.
