Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
Ewan McGregor addresses Obi-Wan delay: 'It’s not really as dramatic as it might seem'
Hello there! Last night, Star Wars fans across the galaxy got some unfortunate news when it was reported that Disney+ and Lucasfilm were delaying their live-action Obi-Wan spinoff series in order to get better scripts. Speaking with Variety at a Birds of Prey fan event in Los Angeles yesterday evening, Ewan McGregor addressed the development, staying positive about the whole affair.
“I think we start shooting early next year as opposed to summer this year,” said the actor, who will reprise the role of Ben Kenobi during the Jedi Knight's years of exile on Tatooine prior to the events of A New Hope. “I think the scripts are great. They’re in really good shape. They want them to be better. I think we keep our same air date. All good.”
McGregor added that he was totally unaware of the uproar about the show's production hiatus, which some say stemmed from the fact that the existing scripts (which are said to focus on Kenobi looking after a young Luke Skywalker) are too similar to The Mandalorian.
“I didn’t realize until we got here tonight and everybody is going, ‘Oh, my god!’” he added. “But it’s not really as dramatic as it might seem.”
Like McGregor, Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) remains attached as director for the project. However, Obi-Wan isn't the only galactic show in the works at Disney+. A Rogue One spinoff/prequel focusing on the pre-Scarif adventures of Diego Luna's Cassian Andor is on its way from writer Tony Gilroy and showrunner Stephen Schiff.
“[TV is] where you have time to develop, to see characters and do stuff that film won't allow us,” Luna told SYFY WIRE over the summer. “And, I think the proximity, sometimes, with the audience becomes so much more profound; the connection.”
Ewan McGregor's next big screen appearance is as Roman Sionis (aka Black Mask, feared Gotham City crime boss) in Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which opens in theaters Friday, Feb. 7.
