Warning: This rumour contains conjecture that could be considered possible spoilers for future Star Wars movies
Even for uber-fans such as myself, the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy have very few bright spots among all the muck. And you would be hard pressed to find anybody that disagrees that Ewan McGregor’s young Obi-Wan was one of, if not the brightest spots in those films, despite having the daunting task of having to live up to the legacy of Sir Alec Guinness in the Original Trilogy. And with Lucasfilm now creating additional spinoff movies that tell tales set between the various Episodes, many fans have asked for McGregor to reprise his role again. After all the 45-year old actor is the perfect age to tell the untold story of just what the Jedi Master was getting up to while he was hiding out as Old Ben on Tattooine.
An Obi-Wan movie is just basically a no-brainer, fans want to hear this story and McGregor himself has publicly stated that he would want to get back into some Jedi robes again. And yet Lucasfilm has made no such announcement. They haven’t even hinted at the possibility. But could it be that the reason they’re holding back on an Obi-Wan movie is that they already have plans for the character?
That’s a new rumour that’s been started by Entertainment Weekly writer Anthony Breznican when he recently appeared on the Rebel Force Radio podcast (via StarWarsNewsNet). When asked about the odds of an Obi-Wan movie actually happening, Breznican revealed that he’s heard some rustling but that we will probably have to wait a while until something pans out:
Um, I have heard rumors that the one reason they haven’t moved sooner on Obi-Wan is that they’re not done with Obi-Wan quite yet in the Saga films. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Obi-Wan thing happen beyond Episode IX. Which it would have to anyway, because they’re booked up until Episode IX.
Breznican goes on to reveal that he doesn’t any concrete evidence yet, but the tiny individual details all seem to line up, especially if you subscribe to one particular fan theory that The Force Awakens‘ Rey is actually Obi-Wan’s granddaughter.
I think that there’s bound to be some reference to Obi-Wan – and I’m not being coy here, this is literally all I know is that [Lucasfilm’s thinking is] “Ehh, if you want to tell an Episode IX story, it’s better that it happens after this first trilogy, because things that happen in it can maybe reference The Force Awakens trilogy.”, if that makes any sense. Some of this is sort of like doing CIA spywork, where you get little pieces of information and then you try to connect them. But I think that they’ll probably be some reference to Obi-Wan in the Saga films, and his connection to whatever characters he happens to have a connection with. I’ve already written that I think that Rey has some kind of connection to him – family connection. So if that’s the case, maybe we see a part of that play out in the future Obi-Wan movie.
I’m actually a huge fan of the Rey Kenobi theory as it still keeps up the franchise’s themes of generational legacy, but doesn’t just keep all the glory for the Skywalker line (and I really think the “Luke is Rey’s father” theory to be dumb as hell). And setting the movie after Episode IX means they have much more narrative freedom and can thus lace the upcoming two Saga films with all kinds of nuggets to elaborate on later. Obviously though this is all still just slightly educated guesswork from Breznican, but it does make sense.
What do you think? Do you want to see an Obi-Wan solo movie?
Last Updated: November 30, 2016
