Of all the existing Star Wars characters Disney could give a show to, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a good bet. Both film iterations of the characters have been fan favorites. For the Disney Plus show, prequel star Ewan McGregor will be reprising his role as the Jedi master. Disney is packing big hitters behind the camera as well. Deborah Chow, who previously worked on The Mandolorian, will be directing the Obi Wan series.
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There’s a good chance that Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi will be a great show. If it is, it will be so somewhat in spite of itself. Disney is better at making Star Wars shows than films, but Obi-Wan highlights an ongoing issue that the studio is struggling to manage.
Star Wars has been obsessed with its past since credits rolled on Return of the Jedi. The prequel trilogy is the most obvious example. Disney has kept the backward focus with Rogue One, Solo, and their Disney Plus shows. Even the sequel trilogy centered itself thematically on the history of the Skywalker and Palpatine bloodlines.
The Star Wars galaxy hasn’t become as strong as it could be because of all the backward-looking. Disney should be telling new Star Wars stories and exploring new elements of the galaxy. Instead, Star Wars has become stuck on one set of characters in one small span of time in the galaxy’s history. When films have attempted to progress and change Star Wars lore, like Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, Disney has walked back those changes.
Stories about the past of the Star Wars galaxy aren’t inherently bad. It’s just harder to get invested when a story’s ending is already known. If Disney wants to dig in the depths of Star Wars lore, why not a Jedi origin story?
Obi-Wan is a great character, but he died in his first film outing. Since then, the character has already been revisited in films and spin-off shows. The prequels gave Obi-Wan a perfect origin story, and they left few questions remaining about him as a character. The new show could address Obi-Wan’s change in personality between the prequels and the original trilogy. Does that really warrant an entire show, when there’s so much more in the Star Wars galaxy that’s yet to be explored?
It seems that Disney doesn’t have much of an interest in truly expanding Star Wars. The next Star Wars show to hit Disney Plus will be Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. After that will be The Book of Boba Fett, which is set during roughly that same time period. There has been little word about the next Star Wars film trilogy. It is still set to be controlled by Rian Johnson, who has made a reputation for wanting to push the boundaries of Star Wars. Maybe with that endeavor Disney can dig itself out of the nostalgia hole.
Whether or not Star Wars needs new stories and new life, Obi-Wan Kenobi is coming to Disney Plus. The show begins shooting this month, and it features a stellar cast and excellent production team. Disney and everyone involved have said very little about what the show’s actual plot will be.
The last time fans saw Obi-Wan was in Revenge of the Sith. He watched his apprentice Anakin turn to the dark side and become Darth Vader. At the end of the film, Obi-Wan likely thinks Anakin is dead, though the movie doesn’t clarify this. The Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi show will pick up ten years after this moment.
Ewan McGregor isn’t the only previous Star Wars cast member coming back for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hayden Christensen will be returning as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who played Luke’s uncle and aunt in the prequel trilogy, are also among the show’s cast.
If The Mandolorian is anything to judge by, Obi-Wan will be great despite the lack of any real surprises it presents. Of course, it could be closer to Solo, but that’s a possibility better left unimagined. Either way, fans will have to wait. Obi-Wan doesn’t have an official release date but could come to Disney Plus in 2022. Disney has no intention of letting anyone get bored while they wait. The Bad Batch and The Book of Boba Fett will be out this year, and it looks like Andor and Ahsoka could be just around the corner as well. If a nostalgia trip is what Disney is offering, at least its a busy one.
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