OBI-WAN GETTING ‘STAR WARS’ SPIN-OFF
LOS ANGELES: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stephen Daldry is in talks to direct a Star Wars spin-off about Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the United States media reported on Thursday.
There is no script yet and no actor lined up to play the bearded warrior and sage made famous by the late Alec Guinness in the original series of films.
Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan in the much-maligned prequel series, will be an early favourite for the role, although at 46, he might be a stretch if the film concentrates on the character’s formative years.
The Hollywood Reporter said Daldry, nominated three times for best director in the Academy Awards, would be part of the team overseeing the development and writing if the deal were to go ahead. Lucasfilm is in the middle of a trilogy of anthology films running in the even years alongside its main trilogy, which falls in odd years.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), the first release in the main saga for a decade, was followed last year by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first of the spin-offs.
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is due for release in December and will be followed in May next year by an as-yet untitled Han Solo standalone movie.
That film starring Alden Ehrenreich as Solo alongside Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover and Thandie Newton, hit the headlines in June when directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were sacked. Lucasfilm, citing “creative differences”, replaced the pair behind the Jump Street films and The Lego Movie with veteran director Ron Howard.
Speculation over an Obi-Wan spinoff has been circulating for as long as the plan for the three anthology films has been public.
“There’s no official offer, and I haven’t met them about it or anything,” McGregor told Entertainment Weekly in April about the prospect of reprising the role.
“But I’ve always said that I’d be happy to do it if they wanted to do it. It would be a good segue between the last episode of the prequels and the new episodes.”
Unconfirmed reports in the trade press have also linked Lucasfilm to projects centred on characters such as Jedi grand master Yoda and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Daldry has received Oscar nominations for Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002) and The Reader (2008).
He is expected to receive an Emmy this year for directing hit Netflix period drama The Crown.