Yesterday, rumors that the Obi-Wan Disney+ Series production shut down and is being delayed arose, and fans didn’t quite know what to think. The future of Ewan McGregor’s series for the Disney streaming app was unclear following reports that the production team was sent home. Now, McGregor says filming will pick back up next year. Initially, it was rumored that Disney was axing the show completely, but it was later reported the project had merely been placed on hold and the filming crews had been sent packing, albiet for the time being.
Now, Ewan McGregor is breaking his silence on the matter by confirming that production is taking a hiatus and filming is expected to resume sometime in 2021. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, McGregor had this to say about the current status of the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series:
“The scripts are really, really good. They want to make them better. And they just slid the production to shooting next year. So it’s not as dramatic as it sounds… It’s not that dramatic. I think we have the same– We’re airing on the same day and all that stuff.”
In another report from TheWrap, Ewan McGregor echoes these sentiments, further stressing that the stories are not as negative as they might sound.
“All this bulls— about creative differences and all that stuff is, none of it true. We just pushed the dates. Episode IX came out, everyone had more time to read the stuff that had been written, and they felt that they wanted to do more work on it. So they slid the shoot. It’s not nearly as dramatic as it sounds online.”
McGregor is likely referring to the reports that Lucasfilm president and Obi-Wan Kenobi producer Kathleen Kennedy was not particularly happy with the show’s scripts. It was also speculated that production could resume as early as this summer as long as the scripts were reworked to Kennedy’s satisfaction, but as McGregor has revealed, it’s not going to be quite that soon. By pushing the production start date all the way to 2021, the writers will have an entire year to develop a story that’s as great as it can possibly be. In any case, what’s clear is that we’re not going to be seeing the series premiere anytime soon.
Plot details are scarce regarding the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and that’s going to likely be the case for a while yet considering all of the scripts are about to be rewritten. What is known is that McGregor will be reprising the titular role of the Star Wars fan favorite for the show, and Deborah Chow had signed on to direct. This will also mark the first time McGregor have physically appeared in the franchise as Obi-Wan Kenobi since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, though his voice as the character can be heard in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.
The success of The Mandalorian on Disney+ likely puts even more pressure on Obi-Wan Kenobi, as Lucasfilm will certainly want their next Star Wars series to be just as strong. When it premiered on the streaming service last November, the show became an immediate success, thanks in part to the popularity of its breakout star nicknamed “Baby Yoda.” With many Star Wars fans even preferring The Mandalorian over The Rise of Skywalker, the bar has been set high for what fans can expect from the Disney+ shows, so it’s not hard to see the reasoning behind the studio’s insistence on making the Obi-Wan Kenobi scripts perfect.
It’s going to be a bit of a wait before we can watch the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but it’s nice to know that production is just on hold and not canceled completely. Meanwhile, season 2 of The Mandalorian will be here much sooner, as showrunner Jon Favreau has revealed the series will return with new episodes in Fall 2020. McGregor’s quotes above come to us from Entertainment Tonight and TheWrap.
