Star Wars: Original Obi-Wan Plans Were for a Movie Trilogy

Years before the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series debuted, a movie focusing on the reclusive Jedi master was being developed, only for that project to hit some snags, be reimagined, and ultimately evolve into the recently concluded TV series. Writer on the project Stuart Beattie, however, recently recalled that the original plan for a big-screen Kenobi adventure was for a trilogy of movies as opposed to a single adventure. At the time, Lucasfilm’s slate of Star Wars film was growing at an increasing rate, with the filmmaker also confirming that the studio was on board to develop the whole trilogy, before the overall project was reimagined as a TV series.

“When I pitched my Obi-Wan story to Lucasfilm, I said, ‘There’s actually three stories here. Because there’s three different evolutions that the character has to make in order to go from Obi-Wan to Ben,’” Beattie revealed to The Direct. “And the first one was the first movie, which was the show, which was, ‘Surrender to the will of the Force. Transport your will, surrender your will. Leave the kid alone.’ So then, the second [movie] was thinking about where Kenobi ends up. And one of the most powerful and probably the most powerful moment in all of Obi-Wan’s story is that moment where he sacrifices himself in A New Hope. Great moment, you know, makes you cry. But, if you stop and think about it, it’s a pretty sudden thing, to just kind of go be fighting a guy, to see Luke and go, ‘I’m gonna die.’ You know, that to me, that required forethought. That required pre-acceptance that this was going to happen.”

He continued, “It’s one of those universal things we all struggle with, to come to terms with our own mortality. So, that was the second step of the evolution for me, that Obi-Wan now has to come to terms with his own mortality, somehow in a prophecy, or Qui-Gon telling him, ‘There’s going to come a moment where you’re gonna have to sacrifice yourself for the good,’ And then [Obi-Wan] is like, ‘What? No, no, no, no, I’m here to help… I can’t, no.’ And get him to that point where Obi-Wan has accepted the idea that he’s going to die, and that he’s going to die willingly at a crucial moment, and you will know when that moment presents itself. So that when that moment comes up in [A New Hope], you understand. He’s recognizing he’s been on this journey already, and he’s waiting for this moment, and that’s how he’s able to make it so easily. To do this [sacrifice], and die. So that to me was the second evolution, the second film, the second story.” 

The minds behind the series have all confirmed that the debut season was set to be a conclusive journey as opposed to merely kicking off a long-running project, but the season finale surely opened up the door for more adventures. Beattie himself confessed, “So for me, if I have anything to do with the second season of Obi-Wan, that’s the character evolution that I would take him on. That, to me, is really interesting. And like I said, universal.”

If the next two arcs in the plan are ever realized, whether they be in live-action or in another medium, is yet to be seen. Stay tuned for details on the possible future of Obi-Wan Kenobi adventures.

Do you wish we had gotten a movie trilogy? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!