SALT LAKE CITY — Disney announced Friday that Obi-Wan Kenobi will return to the “Star Wars” universe with his own Disney Plus series.
Ewan McGregor made the announcement at the D23 Expo, which is Disney’s annual convention where it shares upcoming news and announcements. “Star Wars” producer Kathleen Kennedy joined him for the announcement.
“We have all the scripts written, we’re ready to start shooting next year,” Kennedy said.
There have been plenty of rumors about an Obi-Wan Kenobi series for years, according to Kennedy.
“Internally, we’ve wanted this for so long, but we know how much the fans want it too,” Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly at D23. “(McGregor) wanted to come back, and he’s so excited to play the character of Obi-Wan again. He really does embody who Obi-Wan is. And to think that Alec Guinness was really his mentor and now he’s stepping into those shoes for this series, it’s really exciting.”
Rumors of a potential Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff film began when Disney announced it would be releasing one-off “Star Wars” films, like “Rogue One” and “Solo.” For a minute, director Stephen Daldry was rumored to be involved with the project. Those projects were reportedly shelved when “Solo” didn’t perform to box office expectations.
Then, in early 2018, I wrote for the Deseret News about how McGregor was rumored to be preparing for a return to the “Star Wars” franchise with his own spinoff film.
McGregor addressed it with reports back then, too, saying that much of the discussion was just that — discussion.
“It’s just that. There’s a lot of talk. I’d be happy to play him again. I don’t know any more about it more than you do,” he said.
Well, it looks like the talk is over and Obi-Wan will return. That said, no launch date has been picked yet. But shooting begins in 2020.