The new “Star Wars” series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was originally too dark for audiences, so Disney stopped production to rework it, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Driving the news: Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly that the production of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was halted because it was too dark and the writers wanted to rework the tone.
What they’re saying: “We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story,” Kennedy said. “It’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”
Yes, but: Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi, said in an Entertainment Weekly interview that the show will still hit dark notes.
- “Obi-Wan is lost,” he said. “He’s a broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of ‘Episode III,’ but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt.”
Flashback: Early reports suggested that Darth Vader — who will return in the upcoming “Obi-Wan Kenobi” — will be an angrier version of the character, showing another dark element of the new series.
- “He’s out for blood,” Making Star Wars reports.
What they’re saying: Hayden Christensen — who played Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy — confirmed we will see a darker version of Darth Vader, as I reported for the Deseret News.
- “We’re going to see a very powerful Vader,” Christensen said.