The popular Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi has come to an end, but that doesn’t mean there’s no more interesting news about it. The series was originally planned as a film trilogy, according to the scriptwriter who was originally involved in that task. He explains why it didn’t happen, after all, providing an interesting behind-the-scenes look at Disney.
The six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now on Disney+, and as the plans stand now, no new ones will appear either. Writer Stuart Beattie looked back on the writing process surrounding the series in an interview with The Direct and revealed that a lot has changed in the process. According to the credits, he wrote for episodes 1, 2, 3, and 6, but actually, it’s different: “I wrote the movie they based the series on. I worked on it for about a year and a half. And then, as soon as the decision came to stop making spin-off movies after Solo came out I left the project and went on to do other things.
Then Joby Harold came along and he took all my scripts and made it six hours instead of two. So, I didn’t work with the creators of the series at all, I only got credit for the episodes because it was my stuff.” So Beattie was just a spectator from the sidelines while Obi-Wan Kenobi was being made, with his own script. Interestingly, the mediocre success of the spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story at Disney apparently changed the strategy around new projects.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Pitch for a movie trilogy
However, Beattie had, even more, to say about what his plans around Obi-Wan Kenobi were original. “When I pitched my Obi-Wan story to Lucasfilm, I told them that there are actually three stories to tell. That’s because there are three evolutions the character has to go through to go from Obi-Wan to Ben Kenobi. The first one was what now that the series has turned into the second one thinks about where Kenobi will end up in the end And perhaps the most powerful moment in Obi-Wan’s story is when he sacrifices himself in A New Hope† Great moment, it makes you cry. But, if you stop and think about it, it’s all pretty sudden, to be in a fight, then see Luke and think, ‘I’m going to die.’ You know, for me that takes more.
There must be accepted in advance that this could happen. He has to accept his own mortality, that was the second step of evolution for me.” This was what Beattie suggested to Lucasfilm and also to Ewan McGregor, and according to Beattie, they were all for this idea. “Yes, Ewan was excited, everyone loved it. We were like ‘yeah, let’s do this… It’s a good story to tell, right? It fits the character so much and Ewan is so fantastic with it. And he’s a perfect age.”
Change in plans
In the end, it didn’t come to that, and that was a bitter pill for Beattie to swallow, he says in the interview. “It begged to be made. It was unfortunate in the end, Solo changed everything within the system. I like Sologood, but it didn’t bring in much money. Simply because it didn’t make it to a certain number, they had to rethink. This came from way above my position, but it came in hard. I was devastated inside. But, that’s the industry, ups, and downs.” Yet the writer is still proud of the fact that his script was eventually made into a series. “I’m glad the series is here. I am proud that my story has been told. I’m glad my characters are in it. And I’m glad I got the credits. I only wish they could have made my films.” The films are definitely no longer in it, but there may indeed be a second season around the series. Both the director and lead actors have already indicated that they will be there and definitely wouldn’t say no to it.
