There’s not really much we can defend about the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy without throwing in a very defensive “okay, yes, but…”. But if there’s one thing in those films that everyone is in agreement with, it’s Ewan McGregor and his pitch perfect version of Obi Wan Kenobi.
Disney clearly think that as well and have decided to rope McGregor back into the Star Wars fray by giving him his own Obi Wan TV show.
According to Deadline, McGregor is in talks to dust off his lightsaber again for a yet-to-be titled Obi Wan Disney+ limited series. Apparently the idea for a series originated from discussions for a solo film for the character, which got scuppered when Solo: A Star Wars Story didn’t earn the $40 trillion dollars needed to warrant the greenlight.
Now this is fantastic news for Star Wars fans as many have been clamouring for more Obi Wan content ever since McGregor hung up his Jedi robes at the end of Revenge of the Sith. However, there’s one big problem with the idea of a limited series starring the Jedi master.
The show is planned to have six to eight episodes according to The Hollywood Reporter, which means around six to eight hours of content.
So… what exactly are they going to fill those hours with?
The show is almost certainly going to be set in the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, which will see Obi Wan hiding on Tatooine and babysitting Luke Skywalker for the next few decades.
This means he can’t be going on any grand adventures or do anything big on Tatooine since that’ll draw the Empire’s attention. If this happened, he’d have to leave with Luke and it would take an incredible amount of narrative gymnastics in order to get the story back to where it needs to be at the start of A New Hope.
Having said that, the show also can’t just be Obi Wan hanging out in the desert, tricking Sand People and forgetting droids he knows since that’ll be an incredibly boring six to eight hours.
So realistically, the only idea that could work within the show’s narrative confines is by having bounty hunters hunting down Jedi but even that approach could run out of steam before the end of the series’ six/eight-episode run.
But look, Ewan McGregor is coming back as Obi Wan Kenobi for a new Star Wars show and that’s a big win on so many levels. With no timeline confirmed for when the series will be in production or released, there’s plenty of time for Disney to hash out something that’ll make this show work.
If it doesn’t, well, at least we’ll have The Mandalorian to tide us over.