OBI-WAN KENOBI Was Originally Planned as a Film Trilogy and Story Details Have Been Shared!

Before Lucasfilm and Disney decide to make an Obi-Wan Kenobi series, it was originally planned as a trilogy of films! Years ago, there were rumors and talk of an Obi-Wan film happening, but it was never officially announced, and I don’t recall a trilogy of films ever being mentioned in the rumors.

The scripts for the first film were written by Stuart Beattie, and his scripts were taken by series writer Joby Harold who turned what would have been a two-hour movie into the six-hour series that was released. Beattie had nothing to do with the series, but he was credited as a writer on Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 6 because they pretty much used all of his ideas in those episodes.

You know, this series might have actually worked better as a two-hour movie because it would have been a lot tighter and it would have given the creative team less of an opportunity to screw things up by stretching out the story. The series is actually the first part of the trilogy that Beattie was planning with Lucasfilm, he had more story to tell after Darth Vader and Obi-Wan fought in that series finale.

Beattie recently explained all this in an interview with The Direct saying:

"I wrote the film that they based the show on. So, yeah. I spent like a year, year-and-a-half working on it. And then, when the decision was made not to make any more spin-off films after Solo came out, I left the project and went on to other things. Joby came on and took my scripts and turned it from two hours into six. So, I did not work with them at all, I just got credit for the episodes because it was all my stuff."

Beattie went on to talk about pitching his trilogy idea to Lucasfilm and shares what each of the films would focus on:

"So 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.' 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."

Already, this guy gets it better than what the series creative team ended up delivering. The writer went on to discuss what he envisioned for the second part of the story, which focused on Ewan McGregor's character coming "to terms with his own mortality" and the ultimate sacrifice that Kenobi would have to make:

"So again, 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. 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."

None of that ever came across in the series, and it should have if they didn’t plan on making a second season! That aspect of Kenobi needed to be established, and it wasn’t. Beattie then said that both Lucasfilm and McGregor were on board with the idea. When asked about that he said:

"Oh absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, Ewan was on board, everyone. We were like, 'Yeah, ready to go.' And we were so excited about it, too... It's a great story to tell, right? It's such a fitting character and Ewan is just so fantastic at it. And he's the perfect age, everything.

But, then Lucasfilm and Disney changed up their plans and Beattie was "devastated" when he found out the project was no longer going to be a trilogy of films. He said:

"It just was dying to be done. You know, unfortunately, it's just, it was Solo that changed the direction of the system. I like Solo, personally, but it hadn't made a lot of money. It is crazy in some ways to think about it how it [was directed by] of the best filmmakers working today. But, just because it didn't hit a certain number, they just had to rethink. And, again, way above my paygrade, but it certainly crushed us. Devastated, absolutely devastated. But, that's the business, you know, highs and lows. I'm glad it got made. I'm glad the show got made. I'm proud of my story that [got] told. I'm glad my characters are all through it. And I'm glad I got credit for it. I wish, I wish they'd been able to make my movies."

What a shame. Solo was a great film, and it was mildly successful. It was Ron Howard’s highest-grossing movie! But Lucasfilm and Disney got scared and didn’t want to take the risk with a Kenobi film trilogy. So… it became a lackluster Disney+ series. What a shame.

Beaite never wrote the other two films in the trilogy. His way definitely sounds like the better way! I don’t understand why they just didn’t move forward with the film trilogy and develop them exclusively for Disney+ if that’s where their head was at. I don’t know, some studio executives just make dumb decisions.