Wiser than Luke, snarkier than Mace Windu, sexier than Master Yoda (arguably): Obi-Wan Kenobi reigns as a recurring Star Wars fan favourite, whether he’s being portrayed by Alec Guinness or a suave animated figure.
Or Ewan McGregor, who will executive-produce and reprise his role in an upcoming TV spinoff. Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s first season premieres on Disney+ this May 25, set years after the events of the maligned prequel trilogy. Maybe it’ll wrap up Ben’s/Obi-Wan’s place in a galaxy far, far away for good.
Taking place over six episodes, the simply-titled Obi-Wan Kenobi is probably even more anticipated than existing Lucasfilm series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Do either of those helmet-heads consistently get mistaken for Jesus, by God-fearing people without much working knowledge of The Phantom Menace (see below)? No? I didn’t think so.
お母さんやおばあちゃんがキリストと勘違いして家にオビワンの写真飾ってた案件おもしろすぎるんよな pic.twitter.com/Lssb5lj0No
— マナミーJr (@masososo_) April 4, 2021
We don’t have a trailer or too many confirmed details about McGregor’s return to the role yet, besides the stirring news that Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin/Vader, to face a slightly more wrinkly Obi-Wan ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who appeared in those films as a younger Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, are back too. Besides them, all the new cast members are surprisingly hip and trendy: Benny Safdie, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Maya Erskine, Sung Kang, and Moses Ingram.
It’s interesting to note that the critically despised Star Wars prequels are fodder for nostalgia by now, a fact that McGregor himself finds somewhat heartwarming. “People in their late teens or early 20s, those people who were kids who we made those films for, they loved them,” he told Forbes. “For us, it was the original films of the 70s…to step back into his shoes again now and do a series, a whole series about Obi-Wan Kenobi for those fans, it just makes me really happy.”
