May the Fourth be with you!
With Ewan McGregor set to reprise his role as the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi this month, Total Film reports that the actor is keen to do more.
To be clear, this isn’t just the ‘actor likes to work’ kind of quote either, but something a bit deeper:
“It was nice to come back and to bridge that gap between me and Alec Guinness. I got as much, or more, out of playing him this time than I did in the first three movies put together. That’s to do with the writing, and the people we were making the series with, and the technology, and how different everything is.”
While the show has been conceived as a limited six-part series, we’re sure there will be room for more. His fellow prequels star Hayden Christensen, who reprises his role as Darth Vader in the show is returning in some form for Ahsoka too.
There’s also another former Jedi expressing an interest too. Liam Neeson recently spoke to ComicBook.com and would apparently consider reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace. However, there’s a catch as he revealed his not up for television when answering the inevitable question about a return:
“Oh, I think so, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so … if it was a film. Yeah, I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to TV, I must admit, I just like the big screen, you know?”
Meanwhile, rumours abound of a further prequels star, famous for wielding a purple lightsaber, returning to the streaming Star Wars universe… we’ll take this one with a pinch of salt though (as well as fingers crossed).
Obi-Wan Kenobi begins on Disney+ with a double-episode drop on Friday, May the 27th.
Star Wars Games
Back in March, Ravensburger announced a Star Wars version of their popular board game Villainous. After Disney and Marvel versions, this latest iteration of the game will star some of the franchise’s top villains; the game is subtitled ‘Power of the Dark Side’.
The game has been previewed in a great piece on Polygon, which reveals five playable characters from across the franchise; Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Asajj Ventress, General Grievous and Moff Gideon. Surprisingly, there’s no Emperor – perhaps he’s just too evil?
Meanwhile, Amy Hennig, the head writer and creative director of Uncharted, is collaborating with Lucasfilm on a new game. It’s coming from Skydance New Media, the company she co-founded with Julian Beak.
Discussing the new project, Henning says:
“I’ve often described how seeing Star Wars in 1977 essentially rewired my 12-year-old brain, shaping my creative life and future indelibly. I’m elated to be working with Lucasfilm Games again to tell interactive stories in this galaxy that I love.”
There’s scant information on quite what the game might entail, save for an intriguing quote. The press release refers to “… a richly cinematic action-adventure game featuring an original story in the legendary Star Wars™ galaxy”.
Tales of the Jedi
News broke a few days ago of another animated Star Wars project. Actually, it appears to be more of an accidental leak from the schedule of May’s upcoming Star Wars Celebration Anaheim; the convention’s schedule was posted on their website and listed a panel about Tales of the Jedi – a collection of “animated anthology shorts.”
There’s a great Den of Geek piece looking at the implications of that title, as it’s one that is familiar from comics and elsewhere. Personally, we’re expecting something in the vein of Visions, the recent anime series of idiosyncratic tales from across the breadth of the Star Wars universe.
We’ll keep you posted – Happy Star Wars Day!