Report: Obi-Wan Kenobi Series on Hold at Disney Plus

There’s extra hassle within the galaxy far, distant. The as-yet untitled Disney+ collection centred on Obi-Wan Kenobi — with Ewan McGregor returning to reprise his position — has reportedly been put on maintain. Scripts written by Hossein Amini (Drive) have been thrown out, with Disney-owned Lucasfilm now searching for a brand new author. The Obi-Wan Disney+ collection was deep into pre-production and deliberate to start filming quickly, however crew members at Pinewood Studios, London have now been despatched dwelling. For what it is price, the present is not cancelled — simply delayed. McGregor and director Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) stay connected to their respective roles.

Collider was the primary to convey phrase of the brand new behind-the-scenes growth on the Obi-Wan Kenobi prequel collection at Disney+, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming the report shortly after. Per one particular person who spoke to THR, the story was a difficulty because it “trod similar ground as The Mandalorian, seeing the Jedi master — that’s Kenobi — lending a protective hand to a young Luke and perhaps even a young Leia, perhaps mirroring how the Mandalorian took Baby Yoda under his protective custody.” Another one that spoke to THR mentioned Lucasfilm is seeking to scale the Obi-Wan collection down from six to 4 episodes.

Two individuals conversant in the matter who spoke to Collider mentioned a brand new timeframe has not been given to the crew and that it will be down “indefinitely”. At the identical time, Collider says the plan is to remodel the scripts — solely two episodes had been written to this point, per THR — and hope to enter manufacturing in summer season 2020. But that would all the time change. Disney had no remark. The report posits that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy would reasonably get the story proper earlier than they start filming.

Considering the current historical past of Star Wars, that might be the smarter choice. Rogue One underwent main reshoots with co-writer Tony Gilroy taking up from Gareth Edwards. Solo administrators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have been fired deep into manufacturing, with Ron Howard taking up. Colin Trevorrow was eliminated as writer-director from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker early on, with J.J. Abrams returning within the position. And the Game of Thrones creators exited their Star Wars deal. Even the Obi-Wan prequel was initially deliberate as a film with a special director, however that is not the case now, possible attributable to Solo‘s failures.

It’s a unstable time for Star Wars, although there are nonetheless many tasks in growth. In addition to the Obi-Wan collection, there is a second season for The Mandalorian, and a Rogue One prequel centred on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). For the large display screen, Lucasfilm is growing a trilogy from The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson, a movie from Marvel chief Kevin Feige, and presumably one other from Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi.

January 24, 2020