Deborah Chow to Direct Obi-Wan Series on Disney+
What a fun time to be a Star Wars fan! What a fun time to be Deborah Chow!
Just a few weeks removed from the debut of The Mandalorian and just under three months away from the bow of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, StarWars.com announced another significant piece of news.
Just announced. Deborah Chow has been tapped to direct the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series debuting exclusively on @DisneyPlus: https://t.co/lKOnPWvqXR pic.twitter.com/gIaPi3ohH9
— Star Wars (@starwars) September 27, 2019
Deborah Chow to Direct Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Exclusively on Disney+
Fresh off The Mandalorian, Deborah Chow will helm the upcoming live-action series starring Ewan McGregor, with Hossein Amini confirmed as writer.
Deborah Chow has been tapped to direct the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series that is exclusively for Disney+. Ewan McGregor will be reprising his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi for the series, which takes place eight years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy stated, “We really wanted to select a director who is able to explore both the quiet determination and rich mystique of Obi-Wan in a way that folds seamlessly into the Star Wars saga. Based on her phenomenal work developing our characters in The Mandalorian, I’m absolutely confident Deborah is the right director to tell this story.”
The series will be written by Hossein Amini (The Alienist, Drive). Chow, Amini, and McGregor will serve as Executive Producers alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Tracey Seaward (The Queen) and John Swartz (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Jason McGatlin, Lucasfilm’s Executive Vice President Production, will serve as co-producer.
The story was first an exclusive by The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit:
Exclusive: Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series finds director https://t.co/Ha18ENxGJz pic.twitter.com/NWnZTtbetj
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 27, 2019
This is the director Obi-Wan has been looking for. Deborah Chow, who directed episodes of the upcoming Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian, is returning to the far-away galaxy and will direct the series featuring the popular character Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Ewan McGregor is returning as the Jedi Master for the series Lucasfilm is making for Disney+, the stand-alone $7 streaming service that the company is launching Nov. 12. It is unclear if Chow will direct the entire series, which is said to be either six or eight episodes or part of the series.
Chow has proved herself in the elevated genre space in cable series. In addition to two episodes of Mandalorian, she has directed and worked on shows such as American Gods, Better Call Saul, Lost in Space, Jessica Jones, Reign, and Mr. Robot.
On September 22, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd spoke to Disney CEO Bob Iger and asked:
I wonder if there will ever be a female director for “Star Wars.” He says that Kathleen Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm, is “trying really hard’’ to make that happen.
Well, it’s not a tent pole movie, but a series is a start!