[UPDATE] Ewan McGregor has told IGN that the delay has nothing to do with the quality of the scripts, which are “really, really good.” Apparently, Lucasfilm just wanted more time to polish them up, so shooting was pushed back.
“It’s just slid to next year, that’s all. The scripts were really good. Now that Episode IX came out and everyone at Lucasfilm has got more time to spend on the writing, they felt they wanted more time to write the episodes.” McGregor said. “I’ve read about eighty, ninety percent of what they’ve written so far, and it’s really, really good. Instead of shooting this August, they just want to start shooting in January, that’s all. Nothing more dramatic then that. It often happens in projects, they just wanted to push it to next year. It will have the same release date, I don’t think it will affect the release date. They are still shooting towards having the film release when it was going to be originally.”
Film parody Twitter account DiscussingFilm may have been on to something when it jokingly alluded to the cancellation of Disney+’s Obi-Wan series last week. While the show “isn’t canceled,” Collider and The Hollywood Reporter have learned that Obi-Wan has been put on hold “indefinitely.” In fact, the entire crew at Pinewood Studios has been sent home.
What happened? According to sources, Obi-Wan has been frozen in Carbonite because Kathleen Kennedy “was not happy with the scripts.” The story “became an issue and that entire package has been jettisoned.” There aren’t any specifics in terms of what angered Kennedy, but one source claimed that the show was shaping up to be too much like The Mandalorian.(Old Ben/Mando looking over a young Luke/Baby Yoda, perhaps?)
Ewan McGregor and director Deborah Chow remain attached to the project, but it isn’t clear when Obi-Wan will fire up again. That’s because Lucasfilm has yet to find a new writer for the series, the episodes of which have reportedly been cut down to four instead of six.
Obi-Wan was originally meant to be a Star Wars spin-off film that followed in the heels of Rogue One and Solo, but Lucasfilm changed its mind after the latter flopped. There isn’t any indication that the studio will revisit those plans.