Ewan McGregor confirms the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was originally a movie

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The rumours of Ewan McGregor returning as Obi-Wan Kenobi have been around since the early days of Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, but it was finally made official two months ago at the D23 Expo when it was announced that Ewan McGregor would return to play the Jedi Master in an all-new series for the Disney+ streaming service. However, the project wasn't always intended to be a series, as several years ago it was reported that Stephen Daldry (The Crown) was developing a feature-film centered around the character.

The project was never officially announced, but in a recent interview with ComingSoon, Ewan McGregor confirmed that the original plan was indeed for a standalone film.

It wasn’t always going to be a series, not initially. When we first started talking about, that wasn’t really in the cards but everything’s changed so much, so quickly. It’s really exciting that it is now. I’m really into the idea to be able to tell the story over several hours instead of just one hit. I think it’s going to be quite cool.

Although it would have been fun to have seen Ewan McGregor back on the big-screen as Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'll take six-hours with the Jedi Master as opposed to two. McGregor also recently revealed that he'd known about the project for four years, and confessed that it was a "f**king massive relief" not having to lie about it anymore.

As far as the story goes, McGregor has remained tight-lipped, only to say that "The storyline sits between Episode III and Episode IV… It will be interesting to take a character we know in a way and show him—Well, his arc will be quite interesting, I think, dealing with that the fact that all the Jedi were slaughtered with the end of Episode III. It’s quite something to get over." McGregor plans to rewatch the prequel trilogy, which he hasn't done since they were first released, but believes that so much time away from the franchise will be an asset. "I want to get closer and closer to how Obi-Wan felt while Alec Guinness was playing him. I feel like I’m grayer and nearer him in age, so it’ll be easier to do that," McGregor said.

In addition to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Lucasfilm is also developing a Cassian Andor series set to star ROGUE ONE's Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, but our first live-action STAR WARS series on Disney+ will be The Mandalorian, which drops on November 12, 2019.