Watch Ewan McGregor and Kathleen Kennedy's announcement at D23 that the actor is reprising his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a new Disney+ series. For years it's been speculated that McGregor could once again play Kenobi, with possibilities ranging from reprising the role in a spinoff movie to returning as a Force ghost in the sequel trilogy. There's still a chance of the latter happening in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but any hope for a Obi-Wan Kenobi solo film quickly faded following the poor box office performance of Solo.
Still, rumors persisted that Disney was eager to bring McGregor back as Kenobi, and what was to be an Obi-Wan solo film soon became a Disney+ series. At launch, Star Wars will have a strong presence on Disney+ with their newest series, The Mandalorian in addition to the trilogy films, the standalone films, and the many animated series. There's also another live-action series set before Rogue One and starring Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and Alan Tudyk's K-2SO as well as a revival of The Clone Wars cartoon coming to Disney+. So rather than risking another flop like Solo, Disney and Lucasfilm are clearly using the Disney+ platform to expand on the Star Wars galaxy, and amid all of this content both new and old, an Obi-Wan Kenobi series makes a lot of sense.
During the Disney+ panel at D23, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor was officially announced. No title or plot details are known at this time, but the series' scripts are already finished and production is set to begin next year. The only real detail confirmed - and for many, the only detail that matters - is that of McGregor reprising the role of Kenobi. In a video shared by Phil Villarreal, watch as McGregor and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy break the news to the crowd at D23:
McGregor is clearly very happy about getting the chance to portray the Jedi once more, if only so he can stop being asked in interviews when he's going to play Obi-Wan Kenobi again. Since playing Kenobi in Star Wars: Episodes I-III, McGregor has had a steady and successful career with upcoming roles that include the adult Danny Torrence in The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep and the villain, Black Mask in Warner Bros.'s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). But nothing ever seemed to dampen his enthusiasm for Star Wars and the role he played, and McGregor always appeared eager for a return as Obi-Wan.
Details are slim, but we can make some guesses at what this Obi-Wan Kenobi series will be about. Given McGregor's age - he's obviously older than he was during the Star Wars prequels but younger that Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars: A New Hope - it's likely the Disney+ series will be set during the 19 year gap between Episodes III and IV. It's known that he spends much of this time on Tatooine, watching over a young Luke, but he may not have spent all 19 years alone in the desert. This period in Obi-Wan's life has been touched on previously in Star Wars comics and novels as well as in an episode of Star Wars Rebels, but those two decades surely hold more stories to tell - and now McGregor is returning to help to tell them.
Source: Phil Villarreal