One of the most anticipated projects to come from Lucasfilm in recent years was Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+. Set a decade after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a sort of prequel reunion for both Obi-Wan's Ewan McGregor and Anakin/Darth Vader's Hayden Christensen while also a bridge between the prequel and original trilogies, given the presence of both young Leia and Luke Skywalker.
While Lucasfilm's casting of a young Luke Skywalker was announced ahead of the show's debut, young Leia - who was masterfully portrayed by Vivien Lyra Blair - was supposed to have been kept under wraps.
However, news of her role made its way online ahead of Obi-Wan Kenobi's May premiere, along with the news that the Jedi Master wouldn't be on Tatooine as much as fans initially expected.
Now, Obi-Wan's Ewan McGregor, who also served as the series executive producer, is speaking out about those leaks, as well as how its story changed over time.
Obi-Wan Kenobi's Ewan McGregor Talks Star Wars Leaks
During the Fan Expo Boston, as reported by ComicBook.com, Ewan McGregor compared Obi-Wan Kenobi leaks to "looking at your Christmas presents before Christmas Day:"
“That’s the beautiful thing about how passionate Disney, Lucasfilm, all of us are, who are involved with it is from the beginning is we try really hard not to let anything out of the bag just to protect your experience of seeing it for the first time. I think it’s really cool that Disney and Lucasfilm care so much for the fan experience. They really want you to have a 100% experience the first time you see it, and if you’ve read that, and that leaked, and this came out, it’s just a bit of a shame isn’t it? It’s like looking at your Christmas presents before Christmas Day.”
While Leia's surprise role was leaked, her brother Luke was - as fans expected - originally supposed to have a larger role in the series.
According to McGregor, "It was going to be a story about me and Luke. It was always going to be that:"
“It was going to be a story about me and Luke. It was always going to be that, and that was one of the genius moments where everyone went, ‘Wait a minute,’ and then changed it."
However, a Luke and Kenobi story wasn't the only change Lucasfilm made.
In addition to plans for an Obi-Wan Kenobi trilogy, in the draft for the film, Reva wouldn't have survived and Darth Vader would've won the fight with Obi-Wan.
Uncivilized Leaks & Questions of Canon
Even though young Leia's presence in the show was spoiled for some, few knew the extent of her role in Obi-Wan Kenobi or how brilliant and true to Carrie Fisher's performance young Vivien Lyra Blair's portrayal would be.
Thankfully, those two elements of the show largely remained a surprise which, in the current state of internet fan culture, is an incredibly difficult thing to do. It's also something Ewan McGregor didn't have to contend with as much while filming the prequel trilogy.
In regards to Obi-Wan Kenobi initially being a story about Obi-Wan and Luke, in the end, focusing on Leia was the better and safer option in terms of the Star Wars canon.
After all, the scene where young Luke was pursued by Moses Ingram's light-saber-wielding Reva in the final episode drew considerable backlash from fans as it nearly contradicted the original trilogy canon, as did any time Luke crossed paths with the Jedi Master.
No doubt a whole series or film about Kenobi and Luke would've been plagued by similar issues.
If Season 2 of Obi-Wan Kenobi is in the stars, it will be interesting to see how McGregor and Lucasfilm deal with these problems, including that of online leaks, the second time around.
All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are available to stream on Disney+.
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