'Obi-Wan Kenobi' shifts back Disney+ release, but reveals plan for 2-episode premiere

Star Wars fans will have to wait just a hair longer for Obi-Wan Kenobi. In a pre-recorded message posted to Twitter, Ewan McGregor — who returns to play the in-exile Jedi Knight — announced the series has officially shifted its original Disney+ premiere date from Wednesday, May 25 to Friday, May 27.

Here's the good news, though: Lucasfilm does plan to debut two (count 'em!) episodes on that day. McGregor also took the time to thank audiences for their "incredible support and response" to the show thus far.

Disney+ adopted Wednesday premieres last summer in the run-up to Marvel Studios' Loki. While the streaming platform didn't give a specific reason for the change, the decision most likely stemmed from a desire to avoid conflicts with the corporation's feature films, which — like every other blockbuster on the planet — are usually released on Fridays. It's also worth noting the May 27 release also pits the premiere of Obi-Wan directly against the new season of Netflix's Stranger Things, which drops the same day.

Check out the full announcement below:

Set a decade after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the highly-anticipated series picks up on Tatooine where Obi-Wan has been watching over and protecting a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely) from afar. This quiet life of shameful exile suddenly gets a bit more exciting by the arrival of the Inquisitors, Force-sensitive operatives tasked by the Empire with hunting down the last-remaining Jedi hiding throughout the galaxy.

Pulling the sinister strings is none other than Obi-Wan's former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, now unrecognizable as the terrifying Sith Lord known as Darth Vader. McGregor's fellow prequel alum, Hayden Christensen, steps back into the sleek black boots of Emperor Palpatine's second-in-command, though it's unclear how much of the actor we'll actually get to see under the iconic cape and helmet.

"It was amazing," Christensen told Entertainment Weekly. "It's a great honor to get to put that suit on." He later continued: "It was mostly a lot of excitement because I had spent enough time with this character and felt like I knew him, and coming back to it felt very natural in a lot of ways. And I was just really excited to get to come in and play Darth Vader at this point in the timeline because it did feel like a natural continuation of your journey with the character. And that was very meaningful for me."

"With people like Ewan and Hayden, they've been these characters for so long and they obviously did them in the prequels and they've lived with this character in their lives for so long that they just know the character so well, which makes it so helpful in terms of the creative," added The Mandalorian vet Deborah Chow, who directed all six episodes.

Hopefully, we'll get our first look at ol' Darth in action when the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi hit Disney+ Friday, May 27.