Stephen David Daldry, an English filmmaker born on May 2, 1961, is most recognized for his directorial work on movies like Billy Elliot, The Hours, and The Reader.
Originally, Daldry was brought on board by Lucasfilm Ltd. to direct a Star Wars Antholoy film centered around Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ewan McGregor was slated to reprise his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy and also serve as a producer. Reports surfaced as early as August 2017 indicating Daldry's involvement in an Obi-Wan film, with news outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety stating that he was in preliminary discussions to join the project. He was expected to oversee the film's writing development, even though there were no actors or scripts attached to the project at that early stage. After securing the position, Daldry reached out to Hossein Amini to collaborate on the project, engaging in discussions before Amini's meeting with Lucasfilm. However, the project transitioned from a film to a television miniseries due to Lucasfilm's strategy to increase content for Disney+, the streaming platform owned by The Walt Disney Company. Consequently, Daldry left the project and was succeeded by Deborah Chow, the director of The Mandalorian.