Star Wars: Is the Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone going to start shooting in Belfast?
By Buckie Wells
According to reports out of Belfast, George Lucas recently scoped out locations for an upcoming Star Wars film that may or may not be starring Ewan McGregor.
Out of all the Star Wars news we’ve gotten recently, there’s been almost nil about the Obi-Wan standalone film that was rumored to be eyeing a director. Despite the outcry of fans and what appears to be the perfect time to ask Ewan McGregor to reprise his role, Lucasfilm sits on what could be a potential cash cow.
Is it because there’s plenty of Obi-Wan material already? With comics, animated series and three prequels, maybe Lucasfilm thinks there’s such a thing as “too much” Obi-Wan. However, considering this is the same group that clearly miscast Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and yet so perfectly cast Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, it’s hard to tell what they’re thinking these days. Especially since they apparently like to do things in secret.
Obviously, they’re mining new stories from seeds planted in old lore. Just like they pulled Rogue One from Star Wars: A New Hope, we also know they plan to bring things from Legends to current canon.
The report quickly mentioned Obi-Wan, but there’s little evidence to substantiate that. Additionally, Lucasfilm just hired two guys who are also quite familiar with the region, so that could also explain Lucas’ presence. Plus, Star Wars: Episode IX starts shooting this summer, and the remainder of the Resistance needs a new place to set up shop.
From a “certain point of view,” we could take this optimistically and wait until Lucasfilm announces McGregor’s return. As many have already pointed out, he’s in a much better position to reprise the role than when he started in 1999.
Related Story: Qi’ra and the problem with Star Wars’ female protagonists
Following Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s divisive reception, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to return to some material that feels a little more familiar.
Provided that they don’t radically change the way fans have viewed characters for the past couple of decades or so, of course.