Star Wars Obi-Wan Director Compares Show To Logan & Joker

Obi-Wan Kenobi director Director Deborah Chow compares the new Star Wars Disney+ series to darker comicbook movies like Logan and Joker. During the press conference for Obi-Wan, Chow reflected on what a unique opportunity it was to do this kind of character-focused story in the Star Wars franchise – one that will see Ewan McGergor's Obi-Wan Kenobi having to carry both the weight of the Jedi Order's fall and Empire's rise, as well as gently nurturing the spark of hope that rest with the young boy, Luke Skywalker. 

A lot of longtime Star Wars fans are really looking forward to Obi-Wan exactly for the reason of getting a dark internal conflict story. Obi-Wan's trial of faith and reconciliation while hiding out on Tatooine for decades seemed simple enough an idea during Star Wars: A New Hope and the Original Trilogy, but as the franchise has expanded into bigger character arcs and deeper characterizations, the idea of the idealistic and noble Ewan McGregeor Obi-Wan from the Star Wars Prequels becoming the humble silver-haired Alec Guinness "Ben Kenobi" from A New Hope is much more perplexing to the mind. 

"I think I was the most excited about getting the opportunity to do a character driven story, in a similar way – it's a different tone – but something like Joker or Logan, where you take one character out of a big franchise and then you really have the time and you go a lot deeper with the character," Deborah Chow told reports during Obi-Wan's press day. "So, that to me seemed really exciting to get to do in Star Wars."

Logan and Joker are interesting comparisons for Deborah Chow to drop. The Logan comparisons are easy to understand: James Mangold's Wolverine trilogy finale saw Hugh Jackman's Wolverine during his sunset years, living a life that looks like poor reward for his lifetime as heroics. The spaghetti Western-style story took a twit when Logan is forced to help one powerful and desperate little girl against dark forces that want to use her as a weapon.  When you read it back like that, yeah, that's pretty much Obi-Wan Kenobi's entire arc on Tatooine. 

As for Joker: that may be a little harder for some fans to connect with. However, the Obi-Wan trailers have shown Kenobi trying (and ultimately failing) to simply sit back and let the evil of the Empire unfold before his eyes. When Obi-Wan finally has his fill and explodes back into action as a Jedi warrior... we can see how that would be its own heroic twist on Joker's story. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi will stream its first two episodes on May 27th on Disney+.