Star Wars: Ewan McGregor Says Obi-Wan Drama Is “Bullsh-t”

Refuting reports that Obi-Wan is indefinitely delayed, star Ewan McGregor says online drama surrounding the live-action Star Wars series is “bullsh-t.” Speaking to press at the premiere of Warner Bros.’ Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), McGregor clarified the shooting start simply has been pushed from August to next January, adding reported clashes over creative differences are “not true.” Ensuing drama from confused reports are overblown: “It’s not as nearly as dramatic as it sounds online,” said McGregor, who added Disney-owned Lucasfilm “pushed the shoot to the beginning of next year.”

“The scripts are really good. I saw 90% of the writing and I really liked it,” McGregor said. “All this bulls— about creative differences and all that stuff, none of it is true. We just pushed the dates … last episode, [Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker] came out, everyone had more time to read the stuff that had been written, and they felt that they wanted to do more work on it.”

McGregor continued, “So they slid the shoot. It’s not nearly as dramatic as it sounds online.” According to McGregor, the still-untitled Obi-Wan series is on track for its January 2021 shooting start.

“I think they want to keep the same release date so it’s not really gonna affect the viewer in any way,” he said. “It just simply gives them more time to write and make the scripts even better.”

Following an initial report from Collider, who claimed the series was “indefinitely” delayed, The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday noted Obi-Wan was on hold and undergoing a “retooling,” adding Lucasfilm was looking to replace original scribe Hossein Amini. According to that same report, a source close to the production claimed there were concerns the series was too similar to The Mandalorian: because McGregor’s exiled Jedi is tasked with serving as the faithful protector of a young Luke Skywalker, it mirrors Pedro Pascal’s armored bounty hunter acting as the self-appointed guardian of a Force-sensitive child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda.

Sources also told THR the series was being “reconfigured,” dropping from six episodes to four. In comparison, the Jon Favreau-created The Mandalorian ran for eight episodes.

“I haven’t heard that,” McGregor told ComicBook.com when asked about the cut episodes.

Originally developed as a theatrical spinoff movie like the young Han Solo prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story, the Deborah Chow-directed Obi-Wan marks the third live-action Star Wars series to debut on Disney’s streaming service following The Mandalorian and the Rogue One prequel series centered around Diego Luna’s Rebel spy Cassian Andor.

[h/t TheWrap]