Kathleen Kennedy Comments On Writer Change & Production Shutdown On 'Kenobi' Series
When it comes to creating a story over the span of several years, changes to that story are to be expected, let alone a complete overhaul of the entire script. Fans will be surprised to hear that the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi series did just that. Apparently, right before production, Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, replaced the original writer, Hossein Amini, with the current writer Joby Harold. Kathleen Kennedy goes into further detail in an interview with EW as to why she came to this decision that pushed production from August of 2020 to January of 2021:
“We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story. And it’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of Revenge of the Sith. That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”
But the writer and script weren’t the only things that were changed when it came to the Kenobi series. Originally Lucasfilm had intended the Obi-Wan Kenobi story to be a stand-alone movie, but after receiving the fans’ not-so-great opinions on the more recent films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, they decided to turn it into a series. After all, several of the newer Star Wars series have become a massive hit, like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. When it comes to the story itself, the newly hired writer, Joby Harold, was very passionate when it came to the characters, saying:
“This was a character that’s always been a minor obsession of mine, when I heard it was a character they were exploring, I very aggressively told them all the things I thought they should do.”
Joby Harold goes on to say:
“When we last saw Obi-Wan in the prequels, he’s very emotional, there’s a passion to him. And when we get to see him again in A New Hope, he is the Zen master. That was the story that I wanted to understand — what had happened to Obi-Wan between the guy that Ewan had brought to life and the guy that Sir Alec Guinness brought to life.”
When asked the question of how much of the original script made it into the final production, Deborah Chow, the director of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, said:
“We inherited some of it, but we did really make some significant changes and add a few different elements.”
Joby Harold’s and Deborah Chow’s Obi-Wan Kenobi Story takes place 10 years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, placing itself at the midway point from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Despite the sudden overhaul of the script and bringing on a new writer, it didn’t stop the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series from becoming a reality. With all its hype and anticipation, fans will be surprised to hear that the 6 episode series will not have a second season. Deborah Chow explains this:
“It was definitely conceived as a limited series, and it is one big story with a beginning, middle, and end. The approach has always been that it is one full story.”
While some fans may be heartbroken to know that this will likely be the last time we will ever see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen revise their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, it does make the series seem that much more special. The Kenobi series will premier on May 25th, marking the 45th anniversary when Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope first premiered, kickstarting this amazing franchise.
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Source(s): ScreenRant, EW