What is the Obi-Wan Kenobi release date? There’s been years of speculation leading up to this point, but we know for certain that Obi-Wan Kenobi is back for a new Disney Plus prequel TV series. First and foremost, we get to say, “Hello there!” to Ewan McGregor as he reprises his role as the iconic Star Wars character Obi-Wan. Throw in his once Padawan, Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, and you’ve got yourself quite the incredible addition to the Star Wars saga.
Set ten years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi famously suffered his biggest defeat and left an infant Luke Skywalker on Tatooine for protection. Now Disney is treating viewers to a whole new sci-fi series to weave into the rich tapestry that is the Star Wars franchise.
Directing the series is Deborah Chow, known most recently for directing two critically-acclaimed episodes of The Mandalorian and along with her directing prowess comes the new StageCraft technology used in the series too. We’ll look more into that later but for now, let’s get into it with our friend, Ben. Here’s everything we know about the Obi-Wan Kenobi series release date.
When is the Obi-Wan Kenobi series release date?
Disney Plus has confirmed that Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on May 27, 2022. Even better, we know now that the first two episodes will be premiering together on that Friday with the rest of the season coming weekly after that.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, a limited Original series, starts streaming May 25 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/XCV1xQZhDR
— Star Wars | Andor & Tales of the Jedi On Disney+ (@starwars) February 9, 2022
In an interview with Variety after his Emmy win in September, Ewan McGregor revealed, “We finished shooting our series, and it was really, really good fun. I really enjoyed working with Deborah Chow. I think it will not disappoint.”
Does Obi-Wan Kenobi Have a trailer?
Yes! A trailer for the upcoming Disney Plus show was released on March 10, 2022. Check it out below.
Well hello there. A second Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer dropped on 04 May. this new trailer gave us a few more plot details and teased the return of Darth Vader.
In November 2021 we were also treated to a one-minute behind-the-scenes teaser of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Disney Plus Day.
Filled with never-before-seen concept art and behind-the-scenes interviews with director Deborah Chow and Obi-Wan himself, Ewan McGregor, the featurette gives us a few hints at what we can expect which we’ll discuss more in the Obi-Wan Kenobi plot below.
On March 09, 2022, Entertainment Weekly shared an exclusive first look at the series which gave us our first real look at the former Jedi Master. The years haven’t been exactly kind to Kenobi who’s looking a bit worse for wear. In his ragged robed with unkempt hair he’s a far cry from the noble figure we saw fight in the Clone Wars.
What kind of Obi-Wan Kenobi will we meet in #ObiWanKenobi? Says Ewan McGregor: "We find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken, and faithless, and beaten, somewhat given up." See more FIRST LOOK photos and details on the upcoming series! https://t.co/brdtgkB0J4 pic.twitter.com/OrT90x13X4
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) March 9, 2022
We also got a look at who might be the villain of the piece the force-sensitive Inquisitor who hunts Jedi like Kenobi who went into hiding after Order 66.
As the force-sensitive Inquisitor Reva, Moses Ingram will prove a formidable new foe in #ObiWanKenobi as she seeks out Jedi-in-hiding for the Empire. Director Deborah Chow and writer Joby Harold describe the character as ruthlessly ambitious. https://t.co/brdtgkB0J4 pic.twitter.com/XjXD0CXVky
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) March 9, 2022
Who’s in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series cast?
Production begins soon on Obi-Wan Kenobi, a special event series coming to #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/GH3JBZxZDh
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) March 29, 2021
Disney Plus has given us a fair bit to say when it comes to the cast, as the actors joining Obi-Wan Kenobi can be seen above. We’ll start in an important place, and that’s with the four cast members reprising their roles in the Star Wars franchise:
- Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker
- Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru
- Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen
The new faces joining the Obi-Wan Kenobi cast:
- Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) as Inquisitor Reva
- Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals)
- Indira Varma (Game of Thrones)
- Rupert Friend (Hitman: Agent 47)
- O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton)
- Sung Kang (The Fast and the Furious)
- Simone Kessell (Reckoning)
- Benny Safdie (co-director Uncut Gems)
Unsurprisingly, the cast is keeping pretty mum about their roles in the new series but, during an interview with Collider, O’Shea Jackson Jr spoke about the famous technology, The Volume, a new and mighty impressive StageCraft video wall technology that’s changing filmmaking as we know it.
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“What’s so crazy about The Volume is, you really forget. After a while, you forget that you’re just in this studio,” he explained. “The scariest part about it is when they turn it off. Because you’ll be sitting somewhere, some cave in the middle or whatever, you got background on The Volume working around, and you get so engulfed in the scene that when they turn it off and the entire room, you’re in just goes white. It’s kind of like a Matrix moment when he visits the architect. It was a crazy experience.”
And there was a hint from Ewan McGregor during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that’s left many speculating on another actor joining the cast. When asked how they celebrated May the 4th on set, Ewan replied, “I got to play a very special scene on May the 4th with someone very special in my life, and that’s all I can tell you about it.” To which Jimmy asked if it was someone he’d worked with before, “No, I don’t think so.” That rules out a lot of people, of course, but it doesn’t give us much of a clue who it could be.
What is the Obi-Wan Kenobi plot?
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a sequel to a prequel but a prequel to a sequel. Sitting firmly in the Star Wars canon ten years after Revenge of the Sith and nine years before A New Hope, we know where we are picking up from but what’s planned next for the Star Wars saga is very much under wraps.
We got a few hints from the Disney Plus Day teaser with Ewan McGregor saying, “At least he has this one task left which is to keep Luke safe,” and director Deborah Chow adding, “That’s definitely a starting place for our story. The interesting thing is going to be where it goes from there.”
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In the teaser, we also hear the ominous and iconic breath of Darth Vader during a fade to black in the teaser. Speaking to the ending of Revenge of the Sith and the betrayal of Obi-Wan’s apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader himself, which leads us to some strong hints of an Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader face-off. “Have another swing at each other, it might be quite satisfying for everybody.”
In a first look at the series, McGregor described where we’ll find Kenobi when the series begins. “We find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken, and faithless, and beaten,” he said. “[He’s] somewhat given up.” Sounds like Obi-Wan needs an adventure to get him back in the swing of things.
That’s all we have for now, but we’ll keep this updated as and when we hear more. If you want more info from a galaxy far, far away, check out our guides on the Bad Batch season 2 and the Andor season 2 release date, or our character breakdown of Ahsoka Tano.