This week is not only “Star Wars Celebration” week, but the debut of the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” event limited series. And while many will be excited for the show, “Star Wars” fandom can be deeply unfortunate, and some slinging hate because the series features women and non-white characters in the cast. “Star Wars” fandom has been notoriously toxic (see horribly racist reactions to actors John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran), and how sad is this? Lucasfilm actually has to warn some of its POC actors that signing on to “Star Wars” means enduring hate from certain sections of the fandom.
Actress Moses Ingram, who plays the villainess Inquisitor Reva/The Third Sister, spoke with The Independent and revealed that Lucasfilm gave her a head’s up about some of the toxic behavior online that she should brace herself for.
“It was something that Lucasfilm actually got in front of, and said, ‘This is a thing that, unfortunately, likely will happen. But we are here to help you; you can let us know when it happens, Ingram said. The actress adds that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” director Deborah Chow has been “putting the proper systems in place so I feel safe as we do the work” throughout production. “Of course, there are always pockets of hate. But I have no problem with the block button.”
Joining Ingram in the cast is Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie. Ingram highlights the show’s diversity and the fact that Chow is the first Asian/female director to singlehandedly helm a live-action “Star Wars” project.
“‘Obi-Wan’ is going to bring the most diversity I think we’ve ever seen in the galaxy before,” Ingram proudly stated. “To me, it’s long overdue. If you’ve got talking droids and aliens, but no people of color, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s 2022, you know. So we’re just at the beginning of that change. But I think to start that change is better than never having started it.”
Meanwhile, although McGregor has suggested he’d be game to play Kenobi again, Chow and writer Joby Harlod have signaled to Entertainment Weekly that it’s very likely that the show is just a stand-alone and they feel like they’ve told an arc with a beginning, middle and end.
“It was definitely conceived as a limited series and it is one big story with a beginning, middle, and end. So that’s the way we’ve always approached it,” says Chow. “The approach has always been that it is one full story.”
Harold added, “Yeah, I don’t know about it being a story beyond the story we’re telling now.”
While Kathleen Kennedy added that she’d also love to do it, if you’re reading between the lines, its seems like there is no additional story to tell as of right now. So, it’s possible that Kenobi’s adventure may actually be a one-time event. Either way, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” will make its debut this Friday on Disney+.