'Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi' Disney+ Series Gets Nostalgic Release Date

By Daniel S. Levine

Star Wars fans will not have to wait too much longer for another new Disney+ series. Hours after The Book of Boba Fett finished up, Disney announced the release date for Obi-Wan Kenobi, a limited series featuring Ewan McGregor reprising his role from the Star Wars prequels. The series will debut on a date that's important in Star Wars history.

The first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi will be released on Wednesday, May 25. That date is also the 45th anniversary of the first Star Wars movie's opening day in theaters. The original Star Wars, now known as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, opened on May 25, 1977. The late Sir Alec Guinness played Obi-Wan in A New Hope, while McGregor played a younger version of the character in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will be set during the "dark times" between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope when Obi-Wan lived in exile on Tatooine as he watched Luke Skywalker grow up. (Yes, that means this is another series set mostly in a desert, like The Book of Boba Fett.) It starts ten years after ROTS.

Aside from McGregor, the show will see the return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who played Luke's future Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in Attack of the Clones, also returned. Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie also have parts in the new series.

The series was written by Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Army of the Dead). Deborah Chow, who directed two episodes of The Mandalorian Season 1, directed each episode of Obi-Wan. McGregor, Chow, Harold, Kathleen Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan are the executive producers.

McGregor's performance as Obi-Wan was considered one of the best parts of the Star Wars prequels. The actor hasn't hidden his excitement for returning to the part. "I'm really excited about it," he told The Hollywood Reporter last year. "Maybe more so than the first ones, because I'm older – I just turned 50 – and I'm just in a much better place."

Obi-Wan is the third Star Wars Disney+ series and follows the success of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Disney is also developing Andor, a Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor. Rosario Dawson will also headline Ahsoka, after she was introduced as Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian.  

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