Ewan McGregor Confirms Role In Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi Series, Which Takes Place During 'Solo' [Updated]
Update 8/23: Ewan McGregor confirmed at D23 that he will be starring in the Obi-Wan series. The episode scripts are all finished and the show will begin shooting next year. See more below.Update: Deadline has confirmed that Ewan McGregor is set to reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a yet-to-be-titled Disney+ series. Details are being kept under wraps.
Earlier this year there were rumblings of a possible Obi-Wan Kenobi series coming together for Disney+. Word on the street was that the series came together from an idea that was originally intended to be a movie. But after Solo: A Star Wars Story ended up being a disappointment at the box office, Disney and Lucasfilm thought a streaming series was a little less risky. Now those rumors have circled back around with a new report indicating that Ewan McGregor has signed on to star in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which makes us think an announcement at The D23 Expo might be around the corner.
Cinelinx has the latest update on the possible Obi-Wan Kenobi series. They're not the kind of site to come out there with a scoop without doing their due diligence, and they have two separate sources backing this claim.Update: At Disney's D23 Expo, McGregor confirmed that he will be reprising his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a Disney+ series. The scripts for the yet-untitled Obi-Wan series are all finished, and the series will begin shooting in 2020. The Obi-Wan series was added to the chronological timeline of the Star Wars universe, showing it taking place right in the midst of Solo: A Star Wars Story. This could mean that the series could see Obi-Wan coming face-to-face with his old enemy Darth Maul, since we know that villain resurfaces in Solo.
An Obi-Wan Kenobi project has been rumored for a long time now, and one of the rumors even said that a whole trilogy of films could focus on the Jedi Master. That would be plenty of fuel for an Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but we're not sure how sprawling this story is meant to be. But we had heard that the previously developing Obi-Wan movie might have been canned while pre-production was just starting, so there would have been plenty of assets that could be used to help bring this series together.
On another interesting note, there was a rumor awhile back that said Obi-Wan Kenobi might end up appearing in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (before we knew the title). That was a tabloid rumor, so there wasn't much weight to it, but if the Jedi does appear in the movie, perhaps it will be a tease of what's to come in a possible series that fills in some of the gaps between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
Ewan McGregor has long been keen to reprise the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, always confirming his enthusiasm during the dozens of interviews that always asked him about the possibility. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Lucasfilm and Disney to lock-up this deal just before officially announcing the series at The D23 Expo, but we'll have to wait another week to see what comes out of the Lucasfilm presentation there. After all, we did hear there was going to be a third live-action Star Wars series coming together. Stay tuned for more.