Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, also known as Obi-Wan Kenobi, is a limited live-action television series brought to life by Lucasfilm. Its debut occurred on Disney+ on May 26, 2022, and the series concluded on June 22, 2022. Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen star in the series, reprising their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, respectively. The narrative unfolds a decade following the events depicted in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and nine years prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
In 2013, it was revealed that Lucasfilm Ltd., under The Walt Disney Company, was in the process of creating numerous cinematic productions that stood apart from the main Star Wars narrative episodes. These projects were subsequently branded as the Star Wars Anthology Series. Discussions emerged regarding the possibility of a film centered on Obi-Wan Kenobi as a component of the Anthology series. Ewan McGregor, who portrayed Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, was considered to reprise his role. However, McGregor had knowledge of the project as early as 2015 and was obligated to keep the information confidential during interviews until 2019.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was the inaugural release in the Anthology Series, premiered in December 2016 and garnered positive reviews from both critics and audiences. In August 2017, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lucasfilm was developing an Anthology film focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi, with McGregor starring. Stephen Daldry, the director of Billy Elliot, was in preliminary discussions to direct and oversee the undertaking. Joel Edgerton, who played Owen Lars in the prequel trilogy, had previously voiced his desire to reprise his role in a Kenobi spin-off film. After Daldry was selected to lead the film, he reached out to Hossein Amini to explore the potential of him joining the project.
However, the development of all standalone Star Wars spin-off films was suspended after Solo: A Star Wars Story, the second Anthology film, generated lower-than-anticipated box office revenue in May 2018. Four months later, Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, announced that Lucasfilm had reassessed its release strategy following the underwhelming performance of Solo. It was subsequently confirmed that there would be a break in Star Wars releases after Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker until 2022. Despite this, Boris Johnson, the former UK Foreign Secretary, stated in November 2018 that the filmmakers behind the Obi-Wan Kenobi film had suggested filming in Northern Ireland. The Hollywood Reporter had previously identified it as the most sought-after Anthology film by fans in a 2016 poll.
Lucasfilm enlisted Stuart Beattie to pen a script for the planned Obi-Wan movie. McGregor subsequently participated in a costume test for the project. However, at some point during development, the film was reconfigured into a television series. Beattie's script—the first in a planned trilogy—formed the basis for the series, which was officially announced by McGregor and Kathleen Kennedy, the President of Lucasfilm, at the 2019 D23 Expo following extensive speculation and rumors. The series is set ten years after Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. During the event, it was also revealed that the episodes were already written and that production was scheduled to commence in 2020. Later, StarWars.com announced Amini and Deborah Chow as showrunners. The original script by Beattie had Reva, the series' main antagonist, dying.
On January 23, 2020, reports surfaced that the series was temporarily halted due to purported "script issues." However, McGregor later clarified that these rumors were overblown and that production was proceeding as planned. McGregor further indicated that while filming was indeed postponed until January 2021, the series' scheduled release date would remain unchanged. On April 2, 2020, it was reported that Joby Harold, a writer for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, was brought in to write the series, replacing Amini, who had departed from the project in January. This was substantiated in 2022 when Kennedy disclosed in an interview that she had concerns regarding the scripts' direction. She halted production in January 2020 and appointed Harold to succeed Amini. Despite his departure, Amini still received writing and story credits for four episodes of the season.
In April 2020, a French press release indicated that the series was slated to premiere in 2022. In September 2020, McGregor anticipated that filming for the show would commence in the spring of 2021. On October 9, 2020, Ewan McGregor verified on BBC's The Graham Norton Show that filming was scheduled for March of 2021. On December 10, 2020, further details about the series emerged, including confirmation that it would be set in 9 BBY and the announcement that Hayden Christensen would reprise his role as Darth Vader. The series' logo was also unveiled.
On March 29, 2021, Lucasfilm revealed the cast list for the series, which included Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Maree Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie. Filming began in April.
In late 2020, it was reported that the series would utilize "The Volume" for production, a technology previously employed for The Mandalorian. On May 19, 2021, it was disclosed that Doug Chiang, a veteran Star Wars concept artist, collaborated with director Deborah Chow on the series, drawing significantly from diverse cultures for new designs. At least six department heads were of Asian American descent, with Chung-hoon Chung serving as the director of photography. Filming concluded on September 19, 2021. On February 9, 2022, StarWars.com announced that the series would premiere on May 25 of that year. The first teaser trailer for the series was released on March 9. On March 31, it was announced that the series' premiere would be delayed until May 27, 2022, with the first two episodes being released simultaneously.
On February 28, 2022, the Writers Guild of America West announced the final writing credits for the season, which included Stuart Beattie, Andrew Stanton, and Hannah Friedman, writers who had not been previously mentioned, alongside Joby Harold and Hossein Amini. In a post-series interview with Star Wars Insider, Natalie Holt, the series composer, mentioned that there was very little time to work on Obi-Wan Kenobi, describing the process as very compressed. She said that this created "challenges" for herself and Chow while working on the soundtrack. Holt was hired as composer in December and needed to be ready for music recording by early March.
On February 17, 2022, Variety published an article stating that John Williams would return to the Star Wars universe by writing the main theme for the Kenobi character in the show, although he would not be responsible for scoring the entire series. On April 22 of that year, it was announced that Natalie Holt would be composing the series' score, incorporating Williams' Kenobi theme. William Ross, a longtime collaborator of Williams, along with Peter Nickals, Jon Opstad, and Max Aruj, contributed additional music to the series.
On March 5th, 2024, the announcement came that Obi-Wan Kenobi would be available on April 30th, 2024, in 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats, housed in SteelBook packaging. The release includes bonus content such as original box art by Attila Szarka, concept art cards, and exclusive, previously unreleased featurettes.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Lucasfilm.com (backup link)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Industrial Light & Magic's official website (backup link)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney.com (backup link)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ (backup link)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi on Wikipedia
- Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Internet Movie Database