Obi Wan Kenobi is widely known as a great Jedi Master. In his own series, the character initially seemed anything but glorious. Actor Ewan McGregor has now revealed what the showrunners planned to do with the character.
Which series is it about? Since Disney took over the Star Wars brand, there have been various films and series that have sometimes only highlighted individual characters. Prominent examples are the film “Solo: A Star Wars Story” about Han Solo, or the series “Obi Wan”, which is about the famous Jedi master.
The series appeared on Disney+ in 2022 and has six episodes within the first and so far only season. It told how Obi Wan fared after the end of Episode 3. As a reminder: The Jedi were largely destroyed, the last remnants were driven out.
So did Obi Wan, who had retreated to the desert planet Tatooine. There he wanted to monitor the still young Luke Skywalker. The series was intended to come full circle to Episode 4, the film that started it all in 1977.
Back then, Alec Guinness played the Jedi Master. Ewan McGregor has played the character since episode 1. At first he didn’t even want to play the role.
McGregor played Obi Wan in the three prequel films, creating a very popular version of the character. So it was only a matter of time before there was a standalone series.
McGregor has now revealed what the original plans for the series were. There shouldn’t be much left of the master’s former power.
Epic trailer for the Star Wars series “Obi Wan Kenobi”
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Obi Wan as a drunken waiter
What were the plans for the character? The series was originally supposed to show the character in a completely different starting situation. Ewan McGregor revealed to Vanity Fair magazine that Obi Wan had literally gone into Jedi retirement in a first draft.
He worked as a waiter in a bar. McGregor describes his character’s everyday life as follows:
The first episode started with me as a bartender in a bar. It seemed like Obi-Wan had lost his way. He works in a bar, he drinks too much, he gets beaten up. People kick me and I kind of endure it and then I start at night. I mean, those were our first ideas. There was a draft where it started like this.
Ewan McGregor via Vanity Fair
So Obi Wan should have lost all the glory of his old days and reached the bottom. He would have had to struggle through it day by day. This was intended to show that the Jedi Master’s best years are definitely over.
By the way, fans think the same way when they see Obi Wan running through Fortnite with a butter knife.
The showrunners decided otherwise: In the end, the waiter idea was scrapped. It was an experiment that ultimately seemed inappropriate. Instead, the showrunners opted for the more melancholic story.
Obi Wan is shown moving on after the events of Episode 3, remembering earlier times. Until necessity forces him to pick up the lightsaber again. Not only is Obi Wan being hunted by agents of the Empire, the young Princess Leia is also kidnapped and demands help.
The original idea was rejected, but it would have offered an interesting alternative to the radiant Jedi master. His colleague Hayden Christensen fulfilled a nerdy wish with another “Star Wars” series.