Although Ewan McGregor’s long-awaited return as the titular Jedi master in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries wasn’t exactly met with rave reviews across the board, it looks like the character might be getting another chance to shine in an upcoming Star Wars spinoff show.
It’s been over a year since Obi-Wan Kenobi wrapped up its six-episode on Disney+, which followed “Ben,” now exiled on Tatooine, as he set out across the galaxy to track down the missing Alderaanian princess, Leia Organa (Vivian Lyra Blair). The miniseries brought fan-favorite legacy actor Ewan McGregor into the fold for the first time in over 17 years, as well as Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader—his first live-action appearance since Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).
Whether you liked or hated it, Obi-Wan Kenobi proved to be a massive hit for Lucasfilm, setting record-breaking viewership numbers on Disney+ with its premiere. Still, it seems like its performance wasn’t enough to constitute making a second season based on previous remarks from director Deborah Chow, who reiterated that the first set of episodes “was always conceived of as a limited [series],” though she did give fans a glimmer of hope, adding that they should “never say never.”
Obviously, Obi-Wan’s story already has a clear beginning, middle, and end, which has been detailed since George Lucas’ Original Trilogy. Over the years, fans also got a closer look into the more mysterious aspects of his life thanks to excellent additions to the animated universe such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, as well as the more recent Tales of the Jedi anthology series on Disney+.
Even with this newer wave of Prequel Era content, time and time again, the fandom has demanded more Obi-Wan, especially as Lucasfilm gears up for the release of the Rosario Dawson-led Ahsoka spinoff on Disney+ later this month. And according to a new report, fans might be getting exactly what they’ve wished for.
Credit: Lucasfilm
Earlier this week, The Making Star Wars Show addressed a long-standing rumor that Ahsoka will feature a confrontation between the former Jedi Padawan and her master, Anakin Skywalker, on Mustafar, set in an alternate reality during the events of Revenge of the Sith. These rumors stemmed from a December report that claimed scenes were shot of Christensen in his Revenge of the Sith robes and that Christensen had been in training for a fight scene between Anakin and Ahsoka on the lava planet where former master-apprentice duo Obi-Wan and Anakin dueled following the latter’s fall to the Dark Side.
Supposedly, the scene itself was reported to take place in the World Between Worlds as seen in Star Wars Rebels, which will also play a crucial role in Ahsoka. This Mustafar sequence will act as a sort of “What If” scenario where Ahsoka would see an alternate timeline that’s meant to show her that Anakin falling to the Dark Side is part of his destiny and that there was nothing she could do to save him. The sequence will apparently see a younger version of Ahsoka (Savannah Steyn) and Obi-Wan trying to bring Anakin back into the light but ultimately failing, as it was his fate as the Chosen One.
Credit: Lucasfilm
The new report briefly expanded on those scenes shot last year, adding that a dead Obi-Wan Kenobi “dummy” was present on set and that two versions of the Mustafar battle were filmed: one showing Obi-Wan’s decades corpse and one showing simply a pile of clothes, similarly to what was seen in Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) following his confrontation with Darth Vader:
They filmed a sequence where Ahsoka sees herself on Mustafar fighting Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader before he’s in the suit. They are new scenes. They had a dummy for a dead Kenobi, and they had clothes for a dead Kenobi. They had two ideas there. One is Anakin literally kills Kenobi in that fight where the idea would be Ahsoka, and Kenobi confront Darth Vader. Another is he turns into a pile of clothes just like he always did – he becomes one with the Force at that time in the narrative.
Credit: Lucasfilm
It’s unlikely that Ewan McGregor would come in to film these scenes himself if Obi-Wan is already dead, especially given that the report claims this alternate-reality Mustafar sequence will only last a few seconds. MakingStarWars urged viewers to get their expectations in check when it comes to this highly-anticipated sequence, comparing the scene of Ahsoka traversing the World Between Worlds and seeing various possible timelines as Ahsoka walks down a hallway and looks into mirrors for a brief moment.
Ahsoka’s trip in the Wold Between Worlds could finally be the Star Wars “Multiverse” or “What If” fans have long been waiting for, and could feature several more of these glimpses into alternate timelines. Perhaps, we’ll see a reality where the Light Side prevailed, and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) never wreaked havoc across the galaxy, or maybe even a universe where Obi-Wan fell to the Dark Side after being coerced by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee).
Credit: Lucasfilm
While many fans are crossing their fingers that McGregor’s Jedi master will pop up in Ahsoka at one point or another, perhaps as a Force ghost, this scene in the World Between Worlds might be the only glimpse of Obi-Wan we’ll get in the entire series. Nonetheless, the Ahsoka series is shaping up to be an exciting project for Lucasfilm, and hopefully, we’ll learn more details soon as the show inches closer to its Disney+ release date.
The first two episodes of Ahsoka will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning August 23, 2023.
Do you want to see Obi-Wan Kenobi make a cameo in the Ahsoka series? Let us know in the comments below.
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