For a long time, Star Wars fans have hoped that Ewan McGregor would reprise the role of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi in a spinoff film. While the spinoff rumors were met with mixed results, there was an increased amount of optimism when it was announced that Disney would be launching Disney+, the studio’s exclusive streaming service. With The Mandalorian and the untitled Cassian Andor series already confirmed, there seemed to be more than enough room for other Star Wars titles to exist on the streaming platform.

Now it has been confirmed that there will be an Obi-Wan series, and that it will see McGregor return to the role that he played in the prequels. More on the reports below.

Deadline (via Collider) confirmed the news, which initially started out as a rumor from Cinelinx late yesterday evening.

It’s still not clear how many episodes will be in the series, nor when it will take place. However, it could pull from the spinoff film that would have been helmed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours). But because Solo: A Star Wars Story failed to meet the studio’s box office expectations, they put the Obi-Wan film on hold. Now it looks like it will live in a different form.

Cinelinx says that McGregor actually signed on for the role. They speculate that there had been plans to make a surprise announcement at the D23 Expo, and get the same kind of reaction that Simu Liu was confirmed for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, because Liu is a lesser-known actor and the title is a smaller property, it was easier to keep the secret, whereas McGregor and Obi-Wan have a bigger following.

And since D23 Expo happens next week, it only makes sense that Disney would try to hold on to that secret. Of course, there is nothing stopping them from making that announcement, I picture them doing some minor readjustments — nothing too revealing, of course, it’s still in the early days of development.

Regardless of what comes of it, it sounds like Disney wants to give Star Wars fans something that centers on Obi-Wan Kenobi, in any form, whether that be as a feature film or a TV series. We will just have to wait and see what happens at the D23 Expo.

[Source: Deadline (via Collider) | Cinelinx]