The internet is in a frenzy over the Lucafilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series with headlines saying the production has been shut down and put on hold indefinitely. Before we dig into what’s going on, everyone just needs to calm down, this kind of thing is nothing new in Hollywood. Hell, Lucasfilm has had its share of hiccups over the past few years with many of their film projects, so I guess it’s expected at this point!
Basically, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy wasn’t happy with the way the development of the series was turning out. She was specifically not happy with the scripts that were being turned in. So, she made the decision to let go of writer Hossein Amini, put the project on hold, and go back to the drawing board to figure things out before they proceed.
The series is still going to get made and Kennedy is still actively moving forward with it, but it will go in a different direction with a different writer attached. Until they figure out the direction they do want to take the series, production on the project is on hold for the moment. According to Collider, “the scripts will be reworked with the hopeful goal of reassembling this summer.” THR adds that the plan is also to scale the series back from six episodes to only four to tell the story.
Lucasfilm has all the time they need to develop this project as they never announced a premiere date to shoot for. Yeah, we’ll have to wait a little longer, but in the end, they are going to deliver a Kenobi series. As long as the story is good and the scripts are written well, then that’s all that matters to me.
According to one source, the “Kenobi story treaded similar ground as Mandalorian, seeing the Jedi master lending a protective hand to a young Luke and perhaps even a young Leia.”
I’m fine with projects being reworked if it means that we’ll end up with a better product than it would have been. The report goes on to say that Kennedy “would rather ensure that the story being told with this Disney+ series is as good as it can be on the page before they roll cameras, and rather than move forward with hesitations.”
That makes sense to me! What would make even more sense is if they just brought Jon Favreau and his Mandalorian series creative team in to take it from here.