A/V Obi-Wan TV show happened, Ewan McGregor returned

Save for the inevitable "Where did Obi-Wan get his copy of Off the Wall?" so we can have a satisfying answer for the krayt call redub.

 

They've confirmed an RJ trilogy, and set of D&D movies... but still no word on the third spinoff movie that was supposedly a Kenobi movie...

 

Fantha Tracks claims to have a new exclusive report about this film's development based on a "well-placed source" who has seen "documents" stating that pre-production on the Obi-Wan film has begun, with shooting happening next year for a December 2020 release date.

I had never heard of Fantha Tracks before today. Here's what the "What is Fantha Tracks?" part of their website says:

"Fantha Tracks brings together a team of experienced Star Wars reporters from around the world with the aim of bringing the latest breaking news, reviews, podcasts via our Fantha Tracks podcast network, collecting news and fan interactions from across the planet. With decades of combined Star Wars reporting experience and thousands of pages posted to a variety of sites, blah blah blah."

So... yeah. Grain of salt. Fantha Tracks broke the news eight hours ago, and so far it's only been picked up by not-very-reputable wannabe-websites like MovieWeb and Screen Rant. The better entertainment websites are instead reporting on real things, like Brooklyn Nine Nine's cancellation.

Although if this does turn out to be true, it would make sense for LFL to wait until after Solo to announce it. Especially since Solo looks like it's going to, against all odds, actually make a nice bit of money (quality of movie still TBD though).

Here's the full text from the "team of experienced Star Wars reporters."

 

FWIW - Fantha Tracks was founded by people from Jedi News UK. They're not the types to just make stuff up. (Not saying I believe this rumor, but that it's more likely than if it had been reported elsewhere.)

Adding fuel to the rumor fire is that Ewan McGregor was a guest at the Solo premiere last night. But so were lots of celebrities, so I don't think that necessarily means anything. (Although Frank Oz DID attend the TLJ premiere, again FWIW.)

 

A rundown of the history of the rumors of this movie maybe happening was published over at Comic Book Resources yesterday. It's not as comprehensive as it could be and is notably missing the THR news about Stephen Daldry directing that broke last summer and kicked off this thread... if Wookieepedia allowed an article on this film to already exist, it would probably be more comprehensive. Owing to a user named AdamwanKenobi, who's kept detailed accounts of development-hell-projects like Underworld.

But one interesting tidbit from the CBR article, which doesn't seem to have been brought up in this thread yet:

I know I'm grasping at straws here. Should I just read JJM's book? Never got around to it.

 

Does Tatooine have two suns?

 

Look Barriss, just because you know the deep lore doesn't mean we do. Get this obscure legends trash outtahere.

 

If you're interested in reading a small scale, western-like Star Wars story that focuses on (great) characters, then definitely check it out. It's one of the best explorations of Obi-Wan's character.

 

Barriss was making a light-hearted joke to say that Kenobi by JJM is a good book. I don't agree with the tone ("trash") being used on a helpful and longtime poster like Barriss here.

 

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Outsourced was joking... Tatooine having two suns was established in this iconic scene of a not-so-obscure 1977 movie.

 

We'll have to see, but the impression I got was that he was referring to the topic Barriss responded to ("I know I'm grasping at straws here. Should I just read JJM's book? Never got around to it.") when he was telling Barris to remove "this obscure legends trash" (i.e. the Legends Kenobi novel) and preceding this with "Barriss, just because you know the deep lore"...

If this is not the case, he's welcome to clear up the misunderstanding.

 

That's how I got it too, AND I'm notoriously bad at getting jokes.

 

Oh OK, maybe I'm just not good at jokes. If I got it wrong then I'm sorry.

Well, back on topic. Obviously no one will call Kenobi "Obi-Wan" since he didn't go by that name since before Luke was born (iffy going by ROTS).

 

It was a joke.

That's why I quoted the "Twin Suns" bit.

 

Kenobi: A Star Wars Story

or

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Star Wars Story

or

Old Ben Kenobi: A Star Wars Story

or

Ben Kenobi: A Star Wars Story

I'm think just "Kenobi: A Star Wars Story" is the best.

 

Apologies if this discussion has happened but I saw this tweet and it made me wonder the same



So basically lets say they do a Obi-Wan film between Ep 3 and 4 (Heck even next day after 3) and Ewan didn't want to do it, would they recast, should they recast or does it not matter and we have no power over the decision makers that be.

 

Noooooo I have created drama among good people. I am ashamed. I shall amend this with an entirely unambiguous correction that even a hillbilly moisture farmer would understand.:

Does a duck quack?

I think it depends on the actor in question. Ewan is such a well-loved actor that they'd be drawing in people who aren't even Star Wars fans to see it. And it would be really hard for most people to imitate his special snarky attitude without coming off like forced mimicry. Ewan could convince you he was Alec Guinness's Kenobi while making the character... weirdly... if memorably... his own.

 

What do I look like, a duck biologist!?

 

ducks fly together

 

Obi-Wan Ben Larry Steve Kenobi: A Star Wars Story

20 GBP for anyone who gets that reference.

 

What's a duck?

 

Sometimes. Sometimes, and this is crazy, they sing "Call Me Maybe" loudly in the shower.

Sent from my SM-G386W using Tapatalk

 

I don't necessarily think that a role has to be tied to an actor forever. But recasting a role when an actor is still available and age-appropriate... definitely a no-no.

For example, recasting younger versions of Han and Lando are fine for obvious reasons. Recasting Obi-Wan for a post-ROTS movie, especially when Ewan MacGregor is so enthusiastic about the role... no.

With something like recasting Leia for IX... in general I think I'm fine with recasting dead actors as a broad concept, I had no problem with Tarkin for instance, but in the specific case of Leia in IX, there's just no way she should be recast.

 

I'm mainly in favour of recasting Leia because I worry they'll otherwise say the character died offscreen. That would be crap.

If she's alive and simply elsewhere (maybe with her own story going on concurrently in novels/comics) then, phew, crisis averted.

 

Yeah, definitely depends on the actor and the character. Taking the MCU for example, recasting Rhodey between Iron Man and Iron Man 2 wasn't a big deal for a couple of reasons --- one, he was a sidekick who didn't do all that much in the first movie and only memorably became War Machine after being recast for the sequel; two, Terrence Howard wasn't that big of a name in 2010 whereas Don Cheadle was, so many people saw it as an upgrade anyway. If they had had to recast Tony just one film and two years after the first movie, though, it would have been a different story.

(Recasting Bruce Banner was made smoother by the four years that elapsed between The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo knocking it out of the park and winning all of our hearts, and many fans assigning a weird pseudo-canon status to The Incredible Hulk because it was a co-production with Universal.)

Similarly... Obi-Wan didn't really do all that much in The Phantom Menace, and if he had had to be re-cast for Episode II, it would have been a little messy but ultimately not all that big of a deal. The character had a completely new look, anyway, so casting an older, shaggy-haired and bearded Brit wouldn't have been as jarring as you might think. Having a new Anakin alongside him would have helped, too.

But re-casting Obi-Wan now? Not a chance. Ewan made the role his own over three movies. It would be like re-casting Thor or Iron Man. Or bringing in someone other than Harrison to do Han in The Force Awakens. It would be a hurdle that the movie would have way too much difficulty overcoming, and it could very well doom the picture from Day 1. SW fans are stubborn.