Rumor: Obi-Wan spinoff movie to be a prequel to A New Hope

May 17th 2018, 10:55am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

With ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY releasing back in 2016 and SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY out next week, Lucasfilm and Disney are full-swing into their spinoff series of films. All that is left to do is guess which character will be the next to get a spinoff, with everyone hoping the answer is Obi-Wan Kenobi. News broke last August that a movie with Kenobi was in development with Stephen Daldry (THE HOURS) attached to helm, and now a new report from TMZ (via IndieWire) has dropped some major details about the movie.

In what should be approached as a big rumor, the outlet claims to have gotten ahold of a production bulletin that lists the movie’s title as OBI-WAN: A STAR WARS STORY (going under the codename “Joshua Tree”), and that Daldry is indeed attached as director. As well, the movie will not be an origin story like SOLO, but rather a prequel to A NEW HOPE, following Obi after the events of REVENGE OF THE SITH. The story would center on Obi-Wan keeping an eye on a young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, only to be brought back into the Jedi game after a dispute between Sand People and local farmers calls his attention. The report also states production is slated for next spring in London.

The last time we saw Obi was in the prequel trilogy, which followed the character (played by Ewan McGregor) from his status as a Padawan learner under Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) to becoming Anakin Skywalker's (Hayden Christensen) teacher, only to fight him when he turned to the dark side in SITH. As for McGregor, he said recently he’s open to returning to the role, but hadn’t had conversations with Lucasfilm…yet.

Again, this should be looked at as a major rumor and not something that should be taken as confirmation. If true, it would be a logical setting given that we saw Kenobi his younger days, and we all know how he met his end. There's just the matter of that bit after the events of SITH we don't know much about, and I can totally see him as a wandering hermit getting into adventures.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY hits theaters May 25.