The Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney + has been a highly anticipated entry into the galaxy far, far away. Director Deborah Chow, who recently worked on two episodes of the first of The Mandalorian , was tapped to steer the ship in September 2019, shortly after Ewan Mcgregor and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced the former's return to the role at D-23. A pre-production riddled with creative changes and rumored story problems, Obi-Wan had been in search of new writer since the departure of Hossein Amini in January.
NEWS
An exclusive report by Variety has revealed that writer/producer Joby Harold has been selected to pen the series. The scribe, who most recently executive produced John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum , will continue to reshape the series' scripts ahead of the currently scheduled January 2021 production start.
WHAT THIS MEANS
Harold only has a few writing credtis to his resume, the most recent of which being for Army for the Dead which is currently in post-production, and the majority of his work has been as a producer. Little is known about the nature of the re-writes he's expected to do, as Ewan McGregor's quote from January below indicated the scripts were in at a good point.
I think the scripts are great. They’re in really good shape. They want them to be better. I think we keep our same airdate. All good.
It's anyone's guess as to what happened between that point and now. Rumors have swirled in recent months that Kenobi , initially intended to be a movie until Solo: A Star Wars Story underperformed at the box office, was being reconsidered as a film following it's previous announcement as a Disney + series. While ensuing rumors of the project's cancellation were promptly debunked, the production start for the show was pushed back from August 2020 to January 2021 to allow for a bit more time with pre-production following Amini's departure. Will Joby-Wan pull the series together into a memorable character tale for the crazy old wizard living out beyond the Dune Sea? We hope to learn more in the coming months, and will watch the development of this series with great interest.
