Obi-Wan Filming in Boston…. England
As Obi-Wan would say, “It’s only a difference of 3242 Miles….”
Last week, there was a moment of extreme excitement for this Star Wars fan. No, that moment wasn’t simply The Mandalorian’s latest revelation, although that was pretty cool, too.
The buzz was from a viral report saying the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series would film, partially, in Boston.
Unfortunately, I never actually got to write that story. The actual facts were quite different, from a certain point of view.
CBS 4 in Boston, Massachusetts posted:
“Star Wars” is not coming to Boston, Massachusetts after all. An online posting earlier this week went viral and turned out to be a simple mistake.
A posting by the Film & Television Industry Alliance on productionlist.com said on Thursday that the new series “Star Wars: Kenobi” was set to shoot in London, England, and Boston, Massachusetts on Jan. 4, 2021.
Someone at the website appears to have made an error. After the story became an online hit, the location was changed to Boston, England, United Kingdom, and London… That Boston is about 100 miles north of London.
As the characters in The Mandalorian are now fond of saying, “Dank farrik!”
According to Lincolnshire Live, their Boston is “a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England” and that “Emigrants from Boston named several other settlements after the town, most notably Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.”
Believe it or not, Boston — and much of Massachusetts — has seen an uptick of filming. For example, Ryan Johnson’s “Knives Out” and the most recent version of “Little Women” had their genesis here in the Bay State.
So, it wasn’t that far fetched to think that Ewan McGregor might show up at a coffee shop nearby.
BTW: I should have repeated that I live in Central Mass.
However, the one good thing that came out of the viral fizzle was the initial sizzle.
A lot of people were VERY intrigued about how Boston and Star Wars might intersect. And that included the creatives working on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Check out this video:
Kenobi is filming in Boston next month. We have an exclusive preview of the opening credits. #StarWars pic.twitter.com/xEDWzf9no4
— A Late Show (@colbertlateshow) December 5, 2020
Stephen Colbert was “so happy” about filming a Friday episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that he celebrated the new “Star Wars” show starting production soon…
“Boston, really? Is this show about Obi-Wan Kenobi or his cousin from Southie, Obi-Sean Kenobi?” Colbert said during his monologue.
“‘Look, ya helmet’s wicked pissa but these aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Now I gotta go pahk the Death Star on Alderaan and use the Fahce! I’m your fahthuh!’” Colbert said while doing an exaggerated Boston accent.
All of which is pretty accurate, besides the fact I haven’t ever heard anyone from Massachusetts follow wicked with “pissa.”
OH, what could have been.
Of course, there’s already a Massachusetts-Native in a galaxy far, far away. Bill Burr, a comedian/actor out of Canton, Mass. portrayed Mayfeld in Season 1 (and soon to be Season 2) of The Mandalorian.