Ever since the announcement that the Walt Disney Company had purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 and intended to produce new Star Wars films outside of the sequel trilogy, fans began clamoring for a new adventure starring Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although opinions on the prequel trilogy’s overall merit remained contentious between multiple generations of fans, most devotees of the saga agreed that McGregor’s emotional, nuanced portrayal of Anakin Skywalker’s (Hayden Christensen) Jedi mentor was spot on. Capturing the essence of Sir Alec Guinness’s performance in A New Hope, the only Star Wars performance to ever receive an Academy Award nomination, was no easy task, but it was one that McGregor pulled off. Those who wanted to see a standalone Obi-Wan Kenobi film nearly got their wish.

While McGregor’s last appearance in the saga had been in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, fans speculated that a new storyline could center on the 19 years Kenobi spent watching over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, slowly turning into the hermit seen in A New Hope. McGregor had already aged into the role appropriately, and seemed enthusiastic about reprising his role. The time period was largely unexplored within even the Star Wars Legends content, as outside of John Jackson Killer’s novel Kenobi, little was known about what Obi-Wan did during his two decades of isolation. These questions were ultimately answered last year in the Disney+ six-part miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan Kenobi followed the titular Jedi Master on a daring mission to save a young Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) from the forces of the Empire after she’s kidnapped from her home on Alderaan. As Obi-Wan travels outside the desert planet for the first time since the end of the Clone Wars, he’s reminded of his mistakes and goes through a bit of soul-searching as he tries to reach out to the Jedi spirit of his mentor Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). The mission ultimately leads to a confrontation with his former apprentice, Darth Vader. The reception to Obi-Wan Kenobi was rather mixed; while critics seemed to appreciate McGregor’s performance, a common complaint was that the series stretched out a thin story that would’ve worked better as just a single film. Ironically, this was actually the original plan, as at first a standalone Kenobi film was in development with director Stephen Daldry.

Early Development

Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi fighting Ray Park as Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Image via Lucasfilm

In early 2013, only months after the Lucasfilm purchase was finalized, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the development of several spinoff “Anthology” films that would be put into production simultaneously with the prequel trilogy. These projects were centered around the period of time between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of A New Hope and would seek to tie the two trilogies closer together. VFX artist John Knoll pitched his concept for Rogue One, Lawrence Kasdan wrote his early drafts of the Solo film, and director Josh Trank was set to work on a standalone project about Boba Fett that was later canceled.

However, the runaway fan favorite project that sparked speculation was a potential Kenobi film; a 2016 poll by The Hollywood Reporter on the most desired Star Wars spin-off was overwhelmingly in support of the idea. McGregor himself had expressed public interest in the concept, and often cited his positive experiences shooting the prequel trilogy in interviews. This led to an official meeting with Lucasfilm in which he agreed to sign on as a producer to a standalone feature. The film was quickly put into development with Stephen Daldry in early talks to direct.

RELATED: 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Shows the Jedi Aren't so Different From the Dark Side

Stephen Daldry’s Vision

Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Daldry was a much different director than the other filmmakers that Disney had been in discussions with over spin-off films. While Lucasfilm generally seemed to be courting younger talent to focus on more youthful characters, Daldry was an acclaimed industry veteran with over two decades of experience. Daldry had received Academy Award nominations for his films Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; perhaps an older filmmaker was better suited to tell a more mature story in the Star Wars universe.

Daldry reached out to screenwriter Hossein Amini about developing the story, and he officially joined the project to develop with McGregor in 2017; the pair had previously collaborated on the 2016 spy film Our Kind of Traitor. They developed a small-scale story set primarily on Tatooine that involved Obi-Wan settling a dispute between local moisture farmers and Tusken Raiders; the adventure saw Obi-Wan attempting to hide his Jedi identity in order to keep Luke Skywalker safe. Officially in the works as Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Star Wars Story, the film was developed under the secret title The Joshua Tree and began scouting locations in Northern Ireland.

Another development within the saga that sparked story ideas for the trilogy was the canonical return of Darth Maul after his presumed death in The Phantom Menace. Maul had been revived in the fourth season of The Clone Wars and was set to be a primary antagonist in the spin-off films after his appearance was teased during the end of Solo. However, the financial failure of Solo caused Disney to completely rethink their strategy for theatrical Star Wars releases in the future.

Transformation Into A Series

Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi with Vivien Lyra Blair as young Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi
Image via Disney+

After Disney began launching the future of the Star Wars franchise on their new streaming platform in 2019 with The Mandalorian, the Obi-Wan Kenobi film was reformed as a potential standalone series. McGregor’s return for the series was officially announced at 2019’s D23 convention with filming set to begin in July 2020. The series expanded upon the initial script by Amini with The Mandalorian director Deborah Chow at the helm for all six episodes. However, the production start date was delayed after Lucasfilm expressed its dissatisfaction with the scripts.

After new writers were hired, Chow’s original vision was completely overhauled by executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, who had been mapping out the future of the Star Wars universe on Disney+. While Chow’s original concept featured the return of Maul, Favreau and Filoni pushed her to “go bigger” and include Vader as the primary antagonist. The plot of the series was changed to have Obi-Wan leaving Tatooine to rescue Leia, as there was concern that keeping him on the desert planet protecting Luke would be too similar to The Mandalorian.

The story of the Obi-Wan Kenobi development is a fascinating one that points to the shifts that Lucasfilm made during the transition to streaming. While the streaming era has produced some of the best Star Wars content in years like Andor, it also raises concerns about oversaturation. With Star Wars expected to return to the big screen soon, it will be important for Lucasfilm to determine the best outlet for their stories moving forward.