Posted in: Disney+, Preview, Star Wars, streaming, TV | Tagged: darth vader, kenobi, obi-wan, preview, star wars
Obi-Wan May Leave Star Wars Fans Looking at "A New Hope" Differently
So by the time Disney+ & Lucasfilm's Ewan McGregor & Hayden Christensen-starring "Star Wars" spinoff series Obi-Wan Kenobi wraps, fans of "Star Wars" canon might have some new perspectives on things. For example, remember Darth Vader's famous "I sense something. A presence I've not felt since…" and "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master" lines from "A New Hope"? Well, up until now the assumption was that Vader was referring back to his time as Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) when he battled (and lost badly) to Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) on Mustafar in "Revenge of the Sith." Well, from what director Deborah Chow has to say and the vagueness behind McGregor & Hayden's responses to EW, it appears the limited series will be easing its way into some important canon.
So Is Darth Vader Referring Back to His Face-Off in "Obi-Wan"?
Christensen (smiling): "Maybe?"
McGregor: "Maybe. It's fun. It's very clever how all these threads are created. It's like working backwards and forwards at the same time for the writers and for Deborah [Chow]."
Chow on Being Mindful of Any Possible Canon Changes: "It was definitely something we were very mindful of. And for me also taking on [George Lucas'] legacy, it's an honor to take these characters and be able to tell a new story with them. So I wanted to be very respectful to what exists and not change anything that George intended originally or anything like that. Obviously, there is room for interpretation here. And telling [the story] that they did have these 20 years, and obviously something happened in these 20 years, and that there are some things from our series where there's going to be a little bit more room for interpretation on."
McGregor on How Director Chow Handled Working in Two Timelines: "Deborah Chow is unbelievable. What an amazing director. And what an amazing leader for us in the show. It's so great working with her. Just so exciting. She has got such quiet authority and she's really, really on it. She really knows this world backwards and inside out, and there was never a moment where she didn't know exactly what was going on, what she wanted, what she needed. It was brilliant working with her. For her, in the pre-production process, making all of that work and taking things that were said on the set in 1975 and trying to link it into what we said in 2003 and making it all work — it's a really interesting prospect, and they did such an amazing job with it."
Now here's a look at the official teaser for Lucasfilm's Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, set to hit the Disney+ streaming service on May 27th with two episodes:
Joining McGregor & Christensen are Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, Benny Safdie, Maya Erskine, and Grant Feely– with the series taking place 10 years after 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 (Christensen) turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. Director Deborah Chow moves from directing episodes of The Mandalorian to directing the entire run of the series with directorial "geek cred" that also includes American Gods, Better Call Saul, Lost in Space, Jessica Jones, Reign, and Mr. Robot. In April 2020, Joby Harold (Army of the Dead) was tapped to replace Hossein Amini (Drive) after reports surfaced that Kennedy was dissatisfied with Amini's scripts. Legendary composer and "Star Wars" franchise Hall-of-Famer John Williams is set to compose the theme for the series.