Everything we know about the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series

Ewan McGregor is returning to the Star Wars universe to play Obi-Wan Kenobi, the character made famous by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy, and played by McGregor in the prequel trilogy.

Early plans for Obi-Wan were a movie, written by Hossein Amini and directed by Stephen Daldry. But following the failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the introduction of Disney+, and the success of The Mandalorian, that film concept was turned into a limited, six-part series. With the following everything we know about Obi-Wan Kenobi…

The plot

This is Disney’s official synopsis for the show: “The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat: the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.”

Which doesn’t give us much, though during a Disney investor call in December, Ewan McGregor said of his character: “He has one task left, which is to keep Luke safe… we start on Tatooine and we go on a rollicking good adventure.”

There’s also sure to be a healthy dose of action, with the actor telling The Hollywood Reporter: “For months, we’ve been doing these monster, two-and-a-half-hour sessions of sword-fights and hand-to-hand stuff.”

The cast

McGregor is obviously playing the title character, while Hayden Christensen will be returning as Darth Vader. On that same investor call, McGregor said “The most beautiful thing of all is that it’s brought me back together with Hayden. It’ll be amazing to bring those characters back together again, very unexpectedly.” 

Both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen will be reprising their roles in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. (Picture: Disney)

Suggesting that the pair might also do battle at some point in the series – perhaps during those aforementioned sword-fights – McGregor added: “Having another swing at each other might be quite satisfying for everybody.” 

Elsewhere, prequel stars Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse will again be playing Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. While in March, Disney announced a slew of new cast members, including Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Maya Erskine, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie, though their roles are yet to be announced.

The creators

Executive producers include Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, and Ewan McGregor.

Joby Harold is both writing and executive producing. Harold previously scripted Awake and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and he also wrote Army of the Dead, the Zack Snyder zombie movie hitting Netflix this month.

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Deborah Chow is both directing and executive producing. Chow helmed two episodes of The Mandalorian, while she also directed episodes of the Marvel-Netflix superhero series Jessica Jones.

Release date

Obi-Wan Kenobi is currently shooting in Los Angeles, using the same StageCraft video technology that was employed to bring The Mandalorian to life. While there’s no official release date yet, that tech means these shows have a relatively short turnaround time, so expect Obi-Wan Kenobi to hit Disney+ sometime in 2022.

Feature image courtesy of Disney.