Obi-Wan Kenobi Returning to Star Wars in New Standalone Film

Star Wars' Obi Wan, portrayed by Ewan McGregor

Star Wars fans around the world rejoice! The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the long-awaited standalone film starring Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally in the works. The movie will be directed by Oscar-nominee Stephen Daldry, whose work includes Billy Elliot (2001), The Hours (2003), and The Reader (2009).

The project is still in the early stages of development, and is currently without a script. Though Ewan McGregor, who played Kenobi in the three Star Wars prequels, has not yet been announced as reprising his role, his return is likely.

Fans have been clamoring for McGregor to return to a galaxy far, far away since the announcement of the Star Wars Anthology Series, which includes standalone films like last year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the upcoming Han Solo movie. McGregor himself has expressed interest in revisiting the role.

There’s no way to know exactly what an Obi-Wan movie might look like, but given the character’s timeline, and McGregor’s age should he return, it’s likely the story would take place sometime in the twenty years between Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV – A New Hope.

Obi Wan Kenobi
Image Source:
Starwars.com

After the fall of the Jedi order and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side, Obi-Wan went into hiding on the desert planet Tatooine to keep watch over Anakin’s son Luke. It’s there that we find him in the original Star Wars, played by Sir Alec Guinness.

There are a number of possibilities for an Obi-Wan story during this period. A film set on Tatooine could open up opportunities for appearances by a young Luke Skywalker, Luke’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, or even the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

It might explore Obi Wan’s internal struggle – a hero forced to live a quiet life on a remote world, while the galaxy struggles in the grasp of the Empire and Darth Vader, a man he once called brother. In fact, some issues of the newest Marvel Star Wars comic series have been dedicated to exploring these ideas.

This is all speculation, of course. But whichever direction Daldry and Lucasfilm decide to take the film, it’s clear that they’re listening to what the fans want. With Episode VII – The Last Jedi coming out this December, and Episode IX, the Han Solo movie, and an Obi-Wan film on the horizon, it’s a great time to be a Star Wars fan.

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