Obi-Wan Kenobi was a bit of a polarizing show, because whether you liked it or not seemed to largely depend on if you liked the Star Wars prequels back in the ’00s. Some fans thought Obi-Wan Kenobi just repeated the mistakes of those movies, while others (including me!) loved it. And you know who else loved it? Series star Ewan McGregor.
In fact, he loved it so much that he wants to do more, according to series creator Deborah Chow. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chow said:
…as Ewan and I finished our very last shot on second unit and I was literally taking off my headphones, he was already pitching me ideas for season 2. There’s another 10 years with plenty of stories, and I don’t think it’s off the board. It is a “never say never” situation, but we really did conceive this to be a limited series.
“Never say never” sounds good to me! And honestly, I love that Ewan McGregor feels as deeply about Obi-Wan as we all do. He’s stated before how delighted he is that Star Wars fandom has grown past mocking the prequels and their fans, saying on the Obi-Wan Kenobi press tour, “We meet those people now that really love our films, but it’s taken us 15 years for us to hear that. But it’s so nice, it’s really nice. It changed my outlook, my relationship with Star Wars. It’s different because of that, I think.”
What was originally planned for Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Chow, McGregor and everyone else involved in the show kept the actual plot of Obi-Wan Kenobi firmly under wraps before it debuted. No one guessed that it wouldn’t be about Obi-Wan protecting a young Luke, as the trailer indicated, but protecting a young Leia. But since the Obi-Wan/Leia plot was brought to a satisfying conclusion and (IMHO) doesn’t need revisiting, where could a season 2 take us?
Well, the show was originally planned to be a trilogy of three movies, and back then writer Stuart Beattie was assigned to the project. He spoke to The Direct in 2022 and explained what his plans would have been for a second Obi-Wan movie if one had gotten off the ground. It would’ve been all about Obi-Wan’s “pre-acceptance” of his death at the hands of Darth Vader, something Beattie described as “the most powerful moment in all of Obi-Wan’s story.”
So, that was the second step of the evolution for me, that Obi-Wan now has to come to terms with his own mortality, somehow in a prophecy, or Qui-Gon telling him, ‘There’s going to come a moment where you’re gonna have to sacrifice yourself for the good,’ And then [Obi-Wan] is like, ‘What? No, no, no, no, I’m here to help… I can’t, no.’ And get him to that point where Obi Wan has accepted the idea that he’s going to die, and that he’s going to die willingly at a crucial moment, and you will know when that moment presents itself. So that when that moment comes up in [A New Hope], you understand. He’s recognizing he’s been on this journey already, and he’s waiting for this moment, and that’s how he’s able to make it so easily. To do this [sacrifice], and die. So that to me was the second evolution, the second film, the second story.
Honestly, if that was repackaged for a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi, I would be over the moon. Especially since my only major disappointment with the series was that we saw so little of Qui-Gon. He only shows up at the very end. But a whole season of master and apprentice talking through existential concepts in the middle of a desert? Sign me up!
Where else could a second season take Obi-Wan?
But that’s not all that still hangs in the air as a tantalizing possibility for a season 2. Remember the interesting tidbit that was dropped about Obi-Wan remembering a younger brother? I’d love to see some follow-up on that. I’d also love to see more of the Larses and Obi-Wan’s relationship with them. Beru and Owen taking a level in badass to protect their adopted son was one of my favorite parts of the season finale.
And lastly, don’t forget: Ahsoka is still out there. Both she and Obi-Wan have a history with Anakin Skywalker and they knew each other well. Based on the Star Wars continuity so far, it’s unlikely that they ever met again after the fall of the Jedi Order, but not impossible.
Hopefully, nothing is impossible at the moment when it comes to Obi-Wan Kenobi. C’mon, Disney. Don’t wait around until Ewan McGregor has to Jedi Mind Trick you into making season 2.
(featured image: Disney+)
