Rogue One Prequel Series to Begin Filming Next Year

Star Wars has been making waves at the D23 Expo this weekend as multiple projects are being revealed. This morning, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy helped reveal plans for a previously announced prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Disney+. More news came through about a rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi series that will bring Ewan McGregor back into the Star Wars fold.

Diego Luna will star as Cassian Andor, and Alan Tudyk will also return as K-2SO. Luna and Tudyk both appeared on stage to introduce the new project in front of a delighted crowd. The series is set to begin shooting in London in 2020, and no title has been attached yet. Rogue One is a branch of the franchise that might not have been anticipated for a big reveal at D23.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian is a big standard-bearer for Disney+ at launch this fall, and there was plenty of news about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. People were expecting the Obi-Wan news after reports of McGregor agreeing to return circulated last week. All of these details come in addition to the fact that almost every one of the movies will be available to stream in November during Disney+ launch along with animated series like Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars.

Jon Favreau recently confirmed that the streaming service will be rolling out episodes one at a time. Netflix is arguably the most well-known streaming platform, and they are known to deliver audiences an entire season of a series all at once, which led to speculation about how Disney+ would handle its series. These recent comments seem to confirm that fans can expect new episodes to premiere on the service in intervals, likely on a weekly basis like a more traditional TV network model.

"Well, first of all, you have to treat it like you're making a movie for the big screen," Favreau told Variety when discussing his approach to the series. "The fact of the matter is that, if you look at Lion King, for example, we were very cognizant that, as many people are seeing it in the theaters, there are gonna be more people seeing it at home. And everybody has these beautiful 16 by 9 flatscreen TVs and you wanna create beautiful imagery that takes advantage of what people have. The Mandalorian, whether you watch it on your TV or if you saw it projected, it should feel just as much like Star Wars as any of the features."

It looks like Disney+ will have all sorts of entertainment to take fans all the way through the Fall and into the Spring. After all, after viewers exhaust all the Star Wars content, there is the matter of the entire Disney catalog to sift through. Stay tuned to Comicbook.com for more details from D23.

Additional reporting by Brandon Davis.