This Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi article contains spoilers.
Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 6 closes another chapter in the wise Jedi Master’s life, but is this really the last we’ll see of Ewan McGregor in the Star Wars universe? The final scenes of the show certainly suggest that this is the end of the road. Obi-Wan has saved Leia, made peace with Anakin’s fate, and ended his watch over Luke until the time is right. He even reunites with his old master Qui-Gon Jinn, setting up Sir Alec Guinness’ own story arc in the Original Trilogy — Obi-Wan will learn how to become one with the Force. Soon, he will be more powerful than Darth Vader can possibly imagine.
But let’s face it: Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s ratings have been massive on Disney+, with the most watched debut in the streaming service’s history. If there’s an appetite for more Obi-Wan, Disney could easily find a way to make it happen.
That said, according to writer Joby Harold, the show wasn’t conceived that way. It always meant to feel like a “six-part feature.”
“We always focused on this as a complete six-part story,” Harold told Den of Geek magazine in April. To approach it in any other way would have “felt like hubris, like lurking,” says the writer. “Looking at this limited series as the first part of anything, or as interconnected to anything beyond the canon and mythology that preexists, was less interesting than just looking at it as a complete story.”
Director Deborah Chow said as much when asked the same question earlier this month.
“You know, we always did conceive of this as a limited series,” she told Radio Times ahead of the finale. “So it’s not an adventure-of-the-week sort of story. It’s one big story with a beginning, middle and end. So I think this story was very much conceived to be its own standalone.”
But unlike Harold, Chow is open to the possibility that there’s more room to explore beyond these six episodes.
“I mean, there are of course more stories that you could tell. There’s obviously another 10 years before we get to A New Hope and with a character like Obi-Wan Kenobi, I think even just watching him ride across the sand sometimes is interesting. So, who knows? It’s hard to say right now, but it was not the intention.”
Obi-Wan’s big desert quest in season 2? Sure, why not. Marvel Comics has already explored some of Ben’s adventures on Tatooine, including a fight with Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan, and there have long been rumors that the original scripts for the show written by Hossein Amini (before a creative overhaul brought in Harold as his replacement) featured the desert planet much more heavily than the final product. Could some of that stuff make it into a potential season 2?
But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. Is McGregor even interested in playing the character again or is the Force finally out of his system?
“Would I like to make another one?” the actor said to EW. “Yeah, I would like to make another one.”
McGregor echoed this sentiment in an interview with GQ: “I really hope we do another [season]. If I could do one of these every now and again — I’d just be happy about it.”
The story goes that Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally developed as a film to be directed by Stephen Daldry (The Reader), and that the project only got off the ground because McGregor began saying in interviews that he would love to come back to the Star Wars universe. This after years of being very vocal about not being particularly fond of the galaxy far, far away after his experiences with the Prequel Trilogy. But McGregor has said that the years have softened him up, especially the way his Star Wars movies have been re-examined by fans today. So he’s in for season 2.
Even before Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered, many fans were already wondering if the show would set up a Darth Vader series. Christensen is already reportedly signed on to appear in Ahsoka after this, so why not keep his time in the Star Wars universe going?
“I would love to continue with this character,” Christensen told Radio Times. “You know, I think there’s certainly more there to explore and I would be so excited to get to do so.”
But ultimately, it comes down to Lucasfilm itself. As far as that goes, studio head Kathleen Kennedy sounds open to the idea — if they find a proper reason to do it.
“Mainly because everybody came together and had such an incredible time. Ewan had an incredible time. Hayden had an incredible time,” Kennedy told EW back in March. “So certainly from that point of view, everybody involved would love to see this not end. But we have to really spend our time asking the question: Why would we do it? If we were to decide to do anything more with the Obi-Wan character, we’d have to really answer the question why?”
If Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2 were to be greenlit, it’d likely be a while before we actually see it on our screens. After all, Lucasfilm already has several other live-action series in the works at the moment, including Andor, The Mandalorian season 3, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and The Acolyte. And who knows what other secret stuff they have in the pipeline beyond that.
While you wait for more Star Wars on Disney+, check out the complete schedule of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV series here.