‘Obi-Wan’ Is Star Wars’ Version of ‘Joker’ or ‘Logan’

We’re one week away from the highly anticipated launch of Obi-Wan Kenobi, featuring the return of Ewan McGregor in his iconic Jedi role from the Star Wars prequels. Fans are wondering what they’re in for, beyond McGregor returning to the role of Obi-Wan, and another battle between him and Darth Vader, played once again by Hayden Christensen.

The series director Deborah Chow gave a hint as to what’s in store next week at a press conference (via Total Film). In explaining why she was excited to work on the series, she revealed that it was the chance to do a “character driven story” in the world of Star Wars. She then compared the series, to some fairly dark and mature titles...

I think I was the most excited about getting the opportunity to do a character driven story, in a similar way – it's a different tone – but something like Joker or Logan, where you take one character out of a big franchise and then you really have the time and you go a lot deeper with the character. So, that to me seemed really exciting to get to do in Star Wars.

Joker and Logan are both in-depth character studies. They’re also fairly dark movies, both rated R for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images” (in the case of Joker) and “strong brutal violence and language throughout, and for brief nudity” (for Logan). Some fans might hear that and think Obi-Wan Kenobi will be similarly mature, and while it might be a darker show than The Mandalorian, keep in mind this thing is still a Disney+ series, and everything the streamer produces keeps its core family audience in mind.

Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27. Next Friday! The show will run for six episodes in total.

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