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There was a period where Disney and Lucasfilm were planning on reuniting us with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi in his own movie. Those plans were scrapped long ago, but arguably a better alternative presented itself: a Disney+ series centered on the famed Jedi Master. The Obi-Wan Kenobi series has slowly been coming together, and today brings word about a new casting for the Star Wars project: PEN15’s Maya Erskine.
Maya Erskine, who co-created PEN15 and stars in the Hulu series as Maya Ishii-Peters (a fictional version of her middle-schooled self) has been tapped to appear in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series. While no details about who she’s playing were revealed, Deadline reports that Erskine will have a supporting role in at least three episodes.
Along with PEN15, where she stars alongside fellow creator Anna Konkle, Maya Erskine’s other notable credits include Insecure, Casual, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later and Scoob!. So she has a lot of comedy experience under her belt, but starring in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series will give her an opportunity to contribute to a more dramatic setting. Her casting is reminiscent of The Mandalorian bringing in folks like Bill Burr and Amy Sedaris, who are also primarily known for their comedic work, but have delivered distinct characters to a galaxy far, far away.
Maya Erskine’s casting follows a little under a month after Disney+ announced a lot of other actors joining the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. We already knew that Hayden Christensen would reprise Darth Vader, but the show is also bringing back Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse and Owen and Beru Lars, with those actors having previously played those characters in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Additionally, Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Virma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Bennie Safdie have been cast in undisclosed roles.
As for what we can expect from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, it will consist of six episodes and take place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, which ended with Obi-Wan delivering Luke Skywalker to his aunt and uncle on Tatooine and sticking around the desert planet to keep an eye on the boy. Beyond that, no plot details for the Star Wars show have been revealed yet, although Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy previously teased that it would feature the “rematch of the century,” presumably referring to Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. Behind the scenes, Deborah Chow (who’s helmed two episodes of The Mandalorian) and Hossein Amini are the series’ director and writer, respectively, and are also executive producing alongside Ewan McGregor.
It hasn’t been announced yet when the Obi-Wan Kenobi series will air on Disney+ (which you can subscribe to with this link), but it’s expected to begin shooting soon. While we wait for more news about its progress, look through our list of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows to stay up-to-date on other corners of this massive franchise.
