'Star Wars': Ewan McGregor in Talks for an Obi-Wan Kenobi Series for Disney+

The development positions the series as the third Star Wars title being made for
the upcoming streaming platform, which is set to launch this fall and is meant to
take aim at rival digital services such as Netflix while taking Disney and its
brands into new audience realms. Disney+ and Lucasfilm, the producer behind all
things Star Wars, are already making The Mandalorian, a series based on the class
of warriors and bounty hunters first embodied by fan-favorite Boba Fett, and an
untitled series characterized as a prequel to 2016's Rogue One featuring Rebel
Alliance officer Cassian Andor, with Diego Luna reprising the role. No timeline or
creative talent for the Kenobi project were revealed. The Mandalorian is set to
debut in November as a launch title for Disney+, while the Rogue One prequel has
Stephen Schiff (The Americans) writing and showrunning. Kenobi is a central figure
in the Star Wars mythos. In the original 1977 movie, he is a desert-dwelling and
war-weary hermit who later proves to be a wise and powerful warrior. Kenobi briefly
mentors a young Luke Skywalker before being cut down by Darth Vader, his former
pupil. Alec Guinness played the character, earning an Oscar nomination. The
character also played a central role in the George Lucas-directed prequels, which
recount the origin of Vader and his betrayal of Kenobi and the Jedis. In 2017, THR
revealed that Disney and Lucasfilm were developing a feature spinoff for the
character, to have been directed by Stephen Daldry, the Oscar-nominated helmer
behind Billy Elliot and The Hours. However, those plans, and other movie entries,
were shelved after the poor performance of another spinoff, Solo: A Star Wars
Story, in summer 2018. McGregor last starred in Disney’s live-action Winnie the
Pooh movie, 2017’s Christopher Robin. He has two major franchise plays on the
docket: The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, which is set to open in November, and a
villainous turn in Birds of Prey, the DC Comics-based action-adventure featuring
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. McGregor is repped by UTA and Sloane Offer.

Rian Johnson Promises to Take His New Star Wars Trilogy Beyond the Legacy

Rian Johnson is still working on a totally new Star Wars trilogy. Normally, it
wouldn't necessarily be news to find out that a previously announced project is
still happening. Yet, this isn't just any project. Johnson directed The Last Jedi,
which wound up being commercially very successful, even though it proved to be
quite divisive amongst the fanbase, and caused downright vitriol from a small,
vocal contingent. Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be unwavering, as Johnson has just
shared some new, albeit very vague, details regarding his next trip to a galaxy
far, far away. Following The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson set his sights on a slightly
smaller project, Knives Out, which is an original murder mystery with a mighty
impressive ensemble cast. With that movie's November release date creeping up,
Johnson has started doing some press and, during a recent interview, he was asked
about his mysterious Star Wars trilogy. Here's what he had to say about it. "I
think that the fun and challenging part of it is to dive in, figure out what's
exciting and then figure out what it's going to be. We're doing something that
steps beyond the legacy characters. What does that look like? To me, the blue sky
element of it is what was most striking about it. I know the way that I'm coming at
it and what's fun about it for everyone in George Lucas' films is figuring out,
'what's the next step?' It really makes you think and figure out what the essence
of Star Wars is for me and what that will look like moving forward." The content of
what is being said there is nothing too new. It was already made clear that Rian
Johnson would be crafting an entirely new story centered on new characters in this
universe. It just isn't clear when, in terms of the overall timeline, the story
will take place. This year's The Rise of Skywalker is set to not only conclude the
new sequel trilogy, but also the Skywalker saga in general. That means, whatever
comes next, will be markedly different than what we've seen before. Though, it's
not just the response to The Last Jedi that had some questioning whether or not
this trilogy was going to happen. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators behind
Game of Thrones, have been tapped to do a new trilogy as well. Disney doesn't have
another Star Wars movie on the books until December 2022 and it's already been
confirmed that movie will be the first in the Benioff and Weiss trilogy. Further
movies are dated for December 2024 and 2026. Related: Next Decade of Star Wars
Movies Will Unite Game of Thrones Creators & Rian Johnson So, from a practical
standpoint, when will the Rian Johnson trilogy happen? Will it not even start until
at least 2027? Will Lucasfilm alternate installments? That seems unlikely, as it
would seriously break up the storytelling for both trilogies. Will Johnson make a
smaller scale trilogy that can air exclusively on the Disney+ streaming service?
Far more questions than answers, but, at least for now, this is still on the books.
This news comes to us via Observer. Topics: Star Wars 10, Star Wars

Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Trilogy Will Move Past The ‘Legacy Characters’

The Star Wars landscape is going to look a lot different after The Rise of
Skywalker comes out. Along with the franchise expanding with several Disney+ shows,
there are also numerous cinematic trilogies in the work, including the one being
worked on by Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson (no, he didn’t drop it). In
keeping with Lucasfilm’s love of secrecy, we still haven’t learned anything
specific about what Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy will be about, only that it
will be separate from the Skywalker Saga. Johnson has now reiterated that the goal
for his next three Star Wars movies is to move past the characters we’re incredibly
familiar with and take the Star Wars film series in a new direction. In his words:
It’s one thing to create a Star Wars trilogy starring brand-new faces, but judging
by Rian Johnson’s comments to Observer, it sounds like these movies won’t even
reference the “legacy characters”… or at least, not that much. Depending on the
time period, maybe there will be a mention of the Empire and Rebellion or the First
Order and the Resistance, or even include an off-handed reference to a major figure
like Palpatine or Luke Skywalker, but it’s not like these movies will be leaning
heavily on the main canon that’s quite familiar to fans. Either way, however you
feel about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, there’s no question that it was polarizing
among the Star Wars fanbase. Since Rian Johnson plans to distance his new movies
from the main mythos and chart a new path, while still keeping the overall
substance of the property alive, that could result in these particular Star Wars
tales earning better overall reception. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all
the latest and greatest Star Wars news. Don’t forget to also look through our 2019
release schedule to plan your trips to the theater for the rest of the year
accordingly.