After many, many rumours that have steadily increased in the last couple weeks, it has now been confirmed Ewan McGregor is officially returning to the galaxy far, far away to reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a new Star Wars series for Disney+.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy saved the announcement for last at the D23 Star Wars panel, bringing McGregor out on stage to make it official. The series will take place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, likely to be 8 years according to a timeline graphic Lucasfilm had displayed. What’s more is pre-production is already far ahead of what fans might have expected.
“We have all the scripts written, and we’re ready to go next year, we can’t wait to start production,” said Kennedy.
The untitled Obi-Wan series reportedly originated as a spin-off film, but when Solo: A Star Wars Story failed to strike a chord at the box office, it morphed into a television series for Disney’s upcoming streaming service Disney+. Other Star Wars spin-offs were shelved though, such as a possible Boba Fett film with James Mangold (Logan) directing.
SEE ALSO: What We Hope to See in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars series
While the Obi-Wan series has yet to formally begin production, Disney+ already has other Star Wars series in the works. The Mandalorian from Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau had its first trailer released earlier in the panel while a series revolving around Rogue One‘s Cassian Andor, with Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprising their roles as Cassian and K2SO, is currently in production.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is also set to return in February of next year, tying the series off with the anticipated ‘Siege of Mandalore’ Filoni has teased for ages.
Does Ewan McGregor’s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi excite you? Let us know below or at @flickeringmyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.