Sixteen years have passed since the last time that we got a glimpse of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith. The final moments of the film saw him separating Luke and Leia and delivering them to their new adoptive parents. The pivotal moment where Obi-Wan delivers Luke to Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, setting up his future life on Tattooine, features heavily in the new first look for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In the featurette shared on the Disney+ site, Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow explains the series as "quite a dark time that we're coming into with him. Just being a Jedi, it's not safe. There's Jedi hunters out there," perhaps hinting at the role of one of the cast members that were announced back in March. McGregor goes on to say, "He has one task left, to keep Luke safe." But Chow assures us keeping Luke safe is just the starting point for the story written by Joby Harold.
Obi-Wan Kenobi features a rather impressive cast of newcomers to the Star Wars franchise including Moses Ingram, Indira Varma, Kumail Nanjiani, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie, in addition to Joe Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse who played Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Perhaps the most anticipated returning cast member—aside from Ewan McGregor—is Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christensen, who McGregor seems excited to be working with again. McGregor teased that he and Christensen might be having "another swing at each other."
Chow also reflected on the decision to have Christensen reprise his role as Anakin in the series, saying, "We couldn't tell the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi without addressing Anakin or Vader."
Along with Chow and McGregor sharing sentiments about the series, the Obi-Wan Kenobi clip also featured stunning concept art that revealed new locations, a duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, and Vader sitting on his throne.
Very little is known about the full premise of the series. A few cast members have let slip details about their roles, like Sung Kang who revealed that his character wields a lightsaber, and Moses Ingram who posted a video of her training with a lightsaber in hand. Most of the cast, however, has been playing it safe during press tours for their other projects, including O'Shea Jackson Jr. who praised both McGregor and Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani during an interview with Collider.
In September McGregor confirmed that Kenobi had already ready wrapped, but the first look doesn't contain any new footage for the series, opting instead to highlight a few memorable scenes from Revenge of the Sith. Hopefully, we will have a full trailer for the series before May the Fourth Day next year.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2022. Check out more new images below and the first look at the series on DisneyPlus.com.
