Ewan McGregor says that Obi-Wan Kenobi is less episodic and more like one long movie. Soon to join the ranks of Disney+'s ever-growing roster of Star Wars shows, Obi-Wan Kenobi picks up ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and sees Obi-Wan living a solitary life, watching over a young Luke Skywalker on the desert planet of Tatooine. McGregor serves as executive producer on the show along with Deborah Chow, who also serves as showrunner and director, and who previously directed two episodes of The Mandalorian.
Obi-Wan Kenobi features only six episodes and is billed as a limited series, meaning there likely won't be additional seasons. While finer details of the plot remain unknown, trailers for the show have revealed that Obi-Wan will have to contend with Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) and a fearsome group of Jedi hunters. Obi-Wan Kenobi also marks the triumphant return of Hayden Christensen to the Star Wars universe, seeing the actor don Darth Vader's iconic black suit to once more do battle with his former master. Obi-Wan Kenobi also features performances from Rupert Friend, Maya Erskine, Joel Edgerton, Kumail Nanjiani, and Bonnie Piesse.
At a recent press conference attended by Slash Film, McGregor compares Obi-Wan Kenobi to The Mandalorian and explains that his show is much less episodic and more like one long movie. While The Mandalorian does feature overarching storylines across entire seasons, many of the show's episodes do have a self-contained nature to them, which is quite different from what Obi-Wan Kenobi will be, according to McGregor. Check out McGregor's full comment below:
"The beauty of it being a series is that we've got longer to tell the story. But because [Deborah Chow] directed [all the episodes] and it's her singular vision throughout, it did feel like we were making one movie. And the episodic nature of our series, it falls really cleverly in the storyline, but it is one driving narrative. I think The Mandalorian feels more episodic, if you like, because it suits that storytelling. And, of course, [it] has a driving storyline through each season. But ours is like a movie that just happens to be split up into these episodes."
One major aspect that sets Obi-Wan Kenobi apart from The Mandalorian, as McGregor explains, is that Chow directed every episode. In contrast, The Mandalorian features a number of talented directors throughout its two seasons. Although there aren't any major shifts in tone throughout The Mandalorian due to its multiple directors, McGregor's comment highlights the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi is very much the product of Chow's "singular vision."
While one approach isn't necessarily better than the other, McGregor's comments do suggest that fans might be in for a unified experience with Obi-Wan Kenobi in terms of its style, tone, and storytelling. It remains to be seen whether the show will actually be a hit or not, but it's clear that McGregor and Lucasfilm put great faith in Chow to tell the story the way she saw fit. After all, her work on The Mandalorian proves that she is more than up for the task. Fans don't have much longer to wait to experience McGregor's return to the world of Star Wars, with Obi-Wan Kenobi set to premiere on May 27th on Disney+.
Source: Slash Film