Thursday's news that Lucasfilm is indeed developing a standalone Obi-Wan Kenobi movie strongly suggests Lucasfilm is doubling down on known, commercially proven characters and veteran filmmakers when it comes to their still-burgeoning Star Wars anthology films.
The selection of that venerable character -- first played by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy and then Ewan McGregor in the subsequent prequels -- signals that Lucasfilm wants to bring stability to these Star Wars Stories, the first two of which -- Rogue One and Han Solo -- have been rocked by production challenges and behind-the-scenes drama, especially when it comes to the directors involved. Rogue One ended up cracking $1 billion at the global box office, but not without months of reports about the troubled production and a significant creative overhaul in which veteran filmmaker Tony Gilroy played a key role.
With acclaimed filmmaker Stephen Daldry now reportedly in early talks to direct and help oversee the development of an Obi-Wan Kenobi film, Lucasfilm is clearly banking on a seasoned veteran rather than a less experienced dramatic filmmaker (such as Rogue One's Gareth Edwards) or acerbic young turks (like the fired Han Solo duo of Chris Lord and Phil Miller) to bring the Jedi master back to the big screen. While Daldry has only helmed four feature films on his own (he co-directed 2014's Trash), the native Englishman has been thrice-nominated for an Academy Award as Best Director (The Hours, Billy Elliot, The Reader) and has directed two actresses to Oscar wins (The Hours' Nicole Kidman and The Reader's Kate Winslet). He also had a decades-long career in British theatre and has directed four episodes of (and exec produces) Netflix's The Crown.
What part of Daldry's prestigious pedigree then screams "gamble" on Lucasfilm's part? This is an artist who comes from tradition -- he's a veteran of London's West End theatre scene, for crying out loud -- and works with established actors and within a studio framework, not unlike Han Solo replacement director Ron Howard. This is not to slight Daldry in any way; he's clearly a very talented filmmaker with good taste. If anything, Daldry could potentially help attract even more major talents to become part of Star Wars who might otherwise be reticent to join the franchise.
But beyond even the possibility of a Daldry-helmed Obi-Wan Kenobi film is the fact that Lucasfilm is making an Obi-Wan Kenobi film at all. Starting with Rogue One's emphasis on the Death Star (and bringing back Darth Vader) to the now-filming Han Solo prequel, a Kenobi movie would further show that Lucasfilm is unwilling to move away from legacy characters, the Skywalker saga, and what is commercially proven when it comes to making Star Wars movies outside of Episodes I-IX. (Rogue One, as Garth Edwards had originally described, was a war story devoid of Force-wielding Jedi where "god’s not coming to save us, and we’re on our own." Obviously, that's not quite the Rogue One that ended up coming to the screen.)
The choice of Obi-Wan Kenobi means yet another Star Wars movie that sticks with the tried and true inclusion of the Jedi and the Force (even if Obi-Wan is the only Jedi in it), and a story possibly set in a time when the Empire still exists (unless, of course, this is a prequel to the prequels and Obi-Wan is even younger than he was in The Phantom Menace). Can Star Wars ever not be about the Force? Are there really no stories worth telling that don't rely on a legacy character's appearance, the Force or the Jedi? That's a pretty big galaxy far, far away. Surely, not everyone in it is a Rebel, a Jedi, an Imperial officer, or a droid who happens to be connected to characters we've met before.
From a business standpoint, banking on Obi-Wan seems like a safe bet given the character's appeal to two different generations of Star Wars fans, but at some point every long-running franchise needs to reinvent itself if it wants audiences to remain invested. From a creative standpoint, what can a Kenobi film meaningfully offer audiences that six other movies (let alone two animated TV series) haven't already? Or is this standalone film really being engineered as a way to shed light on Rey's backstory if Star Wars: The Last Jedi does, as some fans have long theorized, reveal that she is a descendant of his? That theory seems more plausible now in light of the timing of this news just months away from Last Jedi's release.
As I asked in my piece on what Ron Howard's hiring as Han Solo director says about the Star Wars spinoffs, "weren’t Star Wars' Anthology films supposed to be a chance for filmmakers to explore new corners of the Star Wars universe and to tell new stories, to experiment, explore, and play in this giant sandbox George Lucas created? ... Are the spinoffs really meant to be a chance to tell new stories, maybe with radically different approaches and styles from past Star Wars films, or are they simply addendums to the mainstream Skywalker Saga films and thus have to fall in line with the vibe and direction of those entries?"
With Lucasfilm also, according to The Hollywood Reporter, developing standalone movies for Yoda and Boba Fett, it would seem that the meaning of "A Star Wars Story" is clearly coming down on the side of these films being addendums to the main trilogies rather than literally standing alone from all that has come before them. Here's hoping the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie is good -- good enough to assure Lucasfilm it can tell new Star Wars Stories less tethered to the franchise's past.
Jim Vejvoda is the Executive Editor of Movies for IGN.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JimVejvoda.
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