While “Star Wars,” Lucasfilm and president Kathleen Kennedy have been espousing the desire to include female filmmakers into the mix, it hasn’t happened yet—on the big screen that is. But on the small screen, as Lucasfilm regroups from the defeat of “Solo: A Star Wars Story”—seemingly jettisoning all their plans for solo spin-off movies and reconfiguring all the ideas as series instead for Disney+—the company has already made in-roads. With their “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series officially in the works and formally announced this past summer at D23, Lucasfilm has now revealed that filmmaker Deborah Chow has been tapped to direct the series.
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Chow is one of Lucasfilm’s first female “Star Wars” directors, and she already helmed episodes of Disney+’s upcoming series “The Mandalorian” alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, Taika Waititi, Rick Famuyiwa, and the series’ co-executive producer Dave Filoni.
Evidently, they really liked her work because unlike “The Mandalorian,” Chow appears to be the only filmmaker who will be directing episodes according to Star Wars.com (at least that’s what it sounds like as of now).
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In a statement, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said, “We really wanted to select a director who is able to explore both the quiet determination and rich mystique of Obi-Wan in a way that folds seamlessly into the Star Wars saga. Based on her phenomenal work developing our characters in The Mandalorian, I’m absolutely confident Deborah is the right director to tell this story.”
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Lucasfilm also revealed the writer of the show Hossein Amini known for “The Alienist” Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive.” Chow, Amini, and Ewan McGregor himself—who is obviously reprising his role as the Jedi Knight gone into hiding, sworn to protect a young Luke Skywalker—will serve as Executive Producers alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Tracey Seaward (“The Queen”) and John Swartz (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”).
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Lastly, Lucasfilm revealed one final small, but important detail. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” takes place eight years after the events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” which is eight years into his eighteen-year stay on Tatooine, quietly looking over Luke Skywalker. This era would also be roughly about eight or nine years before Obi-Wan encountered Darth Maul during “Star Wars Rebels.” Consumed with vengeance against Obi-Wan (yes, he lived after ‘Phantom Menace’), Maul had never known about Obi-Wan’s stay on Tatooine until ‘Rebels,’ so despite fans insistence that the ‘Obi-Wan’ series will feature Maul, that wouldn’t make much sense unless the series became an off-world adventure. Time will tell, but it would be cool to at least see some Inquisitors—the evil Sith sent to hunt down remaining Jedi after Order 66 that are also featured prominently in “Star Wars Rebels.” Time will tell who the antagonist or main conflicts are, but it’s unlikely we’re going to see “Obi-Wan Kenobi” any earlier than late 2020 or early 2021 given that the “Cassian Andor” series will appear first sometime next year.
