Seeing everyone’s favorite bearded Jedi master return to the spotlight has been on the minds of Star Wars fans for years now, and with the official announcement of the cast for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the upcoming Disney+ “special event series,” it looks like that dream has some force ghost weight behind it.
Production begins soon on Obi-Wan Kenobi, a special event series coming to #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/9z49eW9Vgx
— Star Wars (@starwars) March 29, 2021
Ewan McGregor, of course, is returning to the title role of Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, joined by his recently-burned (literally!) padawan Anakin Skywalker or, spoilers, Darth Vader, who will indeed be played by Hayden Christiansen, back in action. With the series set a decade after the fiery finale of Revenge of the Sith, there’s been time enough for the former master and pupil to go their separate ways. Y’know, acclimate to the fugitive-hermit/cyborg Sith killer lives.
The rest of the cast is equally impressive, with a lot of new faces to the galaxy far, far away. Joel Edgerton returns as, presumably, “Uncle” Owen Lars; I’ll be honest, Edgerton is great but I always forget him in Episode II and III. Moses Ingram, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, and Simone Kessell round out the cast, with acclaimed Uncut Gems and Good Time director and actor Benny Safdie appearing as well. Maybe Obi-Wan goes into debt with the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, I hear they’re big gamblers.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is reportedly beginning production “soon,” with Mandalorian director Deborah Chow returning to Star Wars for directing duties here. Joby Harold, whose previous credits include producing on the third John Wick film as well as Tom Cruise time-looper Edge of Tomorrow joined the project as a writer last year.
There are of course several Star Wars projects being juggled for Disney+ at the moment, with more Mandalorian on the way, and The Book of Boba Fett spinning off from that this December. Other series featuring Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) from Rogue One and a vague Rangers of the New Republic show from director Patty Jenkins are in the works, as well as The Bad Batch, the latest animated series following The Clone Wars.
It’s a whole lot of nerf-herding and pew-pew‘ing to get done, and, frankly, I’m here for it all. For more news on Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the lot, stay tuned.
Source: Variety