Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Cameos to Connect More to Prequel Films Than Live-Action Series

Between two seasons of The Mandalorian and one season of Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, the roster of Star Wars characters in live-action series has seen a lot of overlap and crossover, but in the case of the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, audiences shouldn’t be expecting to see much connection to those figures. Given the timeline of the new series, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that it will seemingly be absent of those characters making an appearance, though devout fans of those series will surely be at least somewhat disappointed that we’ll have a longer wait before getting to see more of their on-screen adventures. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts on Disney+ on May 27th.

“Given the nature of our characters, the strongest connective tissue is to the prequels for us,” director Deborah Chow shared with Entertainment Weekly. “Because in large part, that’s where our characters are coming from and that’s where their stories started. So really the prequels are sort of the most connected to our series.”

Of course, there have already been a handful of confirmed cameos in the new series, yet Chow emphasized how this story is more focused on this one character’s journey as opposed to being an opportunity for crossovers.

“Obviously I came from The Mandalorian, so a lot of that DNA is in me,” she says. “And a lot of my Jedi masters, with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, are also just sort of embedded in me now, but I wasn’t looking to tie in necessarily anything. It was just trying to tell the story with integrity to the character, and so that was the connection to the prequels.”

The origins of the project were as a movie, which explains more about how it was approached as an insular story, with writer Joby Harold detailing how the concept embraced more of a standalone feel. 

“From the beginning, we’ve all thought of this as its own unique story,” Harold expressed. “I had always thought of it as its own chapter in bigger canon between the prequels and the original trilogy. There was a story that hadn’t been told, which to me was sort of episode 3-and-a-half. And so within that vacuum, I’ve personally been thinking about it as its own close-ended story, whilst knowing that it’s already connected to the past and connected to what’s coming. But wherever possible, I’ve thought of it that way, as opposed to it existing within a larger tapestry of some of the other shows that are coming out. So it’s its own story.”

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27th.

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