Unlike my other Star Wars Speculation posts, I did not put much planning into this one. This is not something I anticipated writing because I didn't expect a tweet of mine to circulate online as much as it has. For those confused what I'm referring to, last weekend I went to Comicpalooza, met Ray Park, and tweeted the following:
A mutual Twitter follower soon reached out to me via direct message asking about my conversation with Ray Park and then for permission to source my tweet over on
Super Bro Movies. I agreed, of course, and honestly figured nothing much would come of it. That quickly proved not to be the case though as the article blew up on Reddit and soon spawned several other articles and videos. Just google "David Weiser Kenobi" or "Ray Park Kenobi" and you'll quickly see what I mean. Anyways, I think the Super Bros Movies' article represented my comments wonderfully so that site doesn't fall under the "clickbait" umbrella I'm referring to. In light of all this, I thought it would be well worth it for me to add my own two cents of the context of this original conversation since I was actually there.
**Spoiler Warning for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Solo: A Star Wars Story**
My interaction with Ray Park
The interaction essentially went as follows:
I waited in line to meet Park and selected an 8" x 10" photo for him to autograph. While waiting in line, I noticed he seemed very personable and talkative. Since I had recently seen
Solo: A Star Wars Story and been taken off-guard by Maul's unexpected appearance, I figured it was worth a shot to bring that up in conversation.
As I approached him, I shook his hand and introduced myself. At that point, I told him that I saw
Solo last Thursday and was really surprised to see Maul show up. You could tell immediately that he was VERY excited to talk about it because his eyes lit up instantly. He asked what I thought of the film and how surprised I was by the cameo. I told him I loved
Solo and was taken completely off-guard when Maul appeared because I was expecting Jabba the Hutt or Boba Fett to show up as the big "surprise cameos" since they're more commonly associated with the character of Han Solo.
He let me know that he's had to keep the cameo a secret for an entire year or so and has been eagerly awaiting the fan response. We then began to have a conversation about the character where we agreed to both be excited about the Maul's return in
Clone Wars and
Rebels because it really fleshed out Maul as a character and gave him a great arc.
I then rattled off some future possibilities for live-action Maul appearances which included a sequel to
Solo, a
Maul standalone, and the long-rumored
Kenobi standalone. When I mentioned
Kenobi, Park leaned over a little and told me that he really (emphasis on REALLY) thinks
Kenobi is going to happen. He finished signing my photo, we thanked each other, and I walked away from that table a very satisfied fan because it was a very pleasant interaction.
Takeaways
What I took away from that conversation was the following:
1. Ray Park seems like a very nice man
2. Ray Park a fan of the franchise himself
3. Ray Park is really excited about the opportunity to play the character once more
4. Ray Park is passionate about the character
5. Ray Park believes the long rumored
Kenobi spin-off film will be made.
I tweeted about it for many reasons, but largely because I'm one of the fans who is actively interested in the status of a
Kenobi spin-off and I felt fellow fans might want to hear about it. I never imagined it would fuel the fire and become the source of as much clickbait as it has, but the internet is insatiable about this kind of thing so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. When I mentioned
Kenobi to Park, I just threw it out as a possibility for him to reprise the role with no expectations to hear anything about the project from him in return. However, that wasn't the case. I don't think his comments are official confirmation by any means, but it does have me thinking there's a high likelihood that a Kenobi film will be made in the near future. I suspect we will have an official announcement with a December 2020 release date from Lucasfilm either sometime later this year so they can begin shooting in 2019 or it will be announced with more of Lucasfilm's future slate of films at next year's Star Wars Celebration.
Maul in Kenobi?
Some are now speculating that Park must be involved in the film in some capacity to feel so confident about it, but I think it's just as likely that Park has heard the rumors and simply believes Lucasfilm is interested in the idea. Given his relationship with Lucasfilm, it's also not hard to imagine that he might simply be aware that it's in development.
While I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of a Maul appearance in
Kenobi, I think it would be a logistical nightmare to avoid retconning the confrontation between Kenobi and Maul in
Star Wars Rebels. It's always possible that they could recreate the duel between them in live action, but that would also involve the baggage of bringing a live action Ezra and Chopper onscreen which might be really confusing for casual fans who haven't seen
Rebels. The reason this would be confusing is that these characters effectively showed up out of nowhere from Obi Wan's perspective, and I imagine that's how the audience would see it as well. If they decided to do this, it would be very tricky to pull off and I don't think Lucasfilm is interested in retconning their newly established canon so it seems unlikely.
I know it seems weird considering I named-dropped
Kenobi in my conversation with Park, but I'd actually prefer Maul not to show up. My qualifications for Maul appearing in
Kenobi hinge on following the pre-established canon history of their characters. In my mind, the only acceptable way the two can interact with another in
Kenobi would be a recreation of that duel from
Rebels because that is the first interaction between them since the Clone Wars that results in Maul's death. Maul doesn't even know that Kenobi is alive and on Tatooine till shortly beforehand in another
Rebels episode.
If Maul showed up, his appearance would need to be in a recreation of the aforementioned
Rebels duel or he would need communicate via hologram with someone related to his criminal enterprise like his cameo in
Solo: A Star Wars Story. If that were the case, it would be imperative that he could not learn of Kenobi's survival and location as a result of his appearance. So long as Lucasfilm doesn't break canon to include Maul, I'm fine with an appearance. I just doubt he will show up because of the canon complications that will arise. Maybe, it's for the best if he's not in it.
Recasting Obi Wan?
In addition to the Maul story, I've noticed that a lot of people seem concerned about the possibility of another actor in the Obi Wan role aside from Ewan McGregor. I quickly want to provide evidence of Lucasfilm's willingness to go to great lengths to preserve the continuity of actors portraying characters because these reports bug me.
Most recently, we have
Solo: A Star Wars Story doing double duty with the Maul cameo, as the character was physically portrayed by Ray Park who was the physical stand-in for
The Phantom Menace while Sam Witwer returned from
Clone Wars and
Rebels to voice Maul once again. Next up,
Rogue One has a slew of examples. It's often brushed over that Jimmy Smits reprised his role of Bail Organa and they brought back Genevieve O'Reilly who only previously had played Mon Mothama in a DELETED SCENE from
Revenge Of The Sith for goodness sake. Then there's the fact that they went to the trouble of digitally recreated Tarkin and Leia rather than recasting those roles. I think the backlash they received from digitally recreating a deceased actor will keep them from "resurrecting" Alec Guiness via CGI in the future, especially since Ewan McGregor could easily return. Based on all that and Lucasfilm's reluctance to recast in the sequel trilogy, I find it very hard to believe that Ewan McGregor would not return.
Conclusion
With all that out of the way, I'd like to quickly share what I'd like to see in a
Kenobi standalone. While I think that particular
Rebels episode,
From A Certain Point of View, and the Marvel Star Wars comics all make a strong case for an Obi Wan film, I'd be most interested in seeing a completely new story. When I imagine a
Kenobi film, I envision a film that's
Seven Samurai-esque and involves Kenobi stepping up to protect Luke and the Lars family homestead from Tusken Raiders or bounty hunters against the wishes of Owen Lars. I'd like to also see a broken down, older, and wearier Obi Wan as a result of the events of
Revenge of the Sith ala
Logan. Oh, and Ewan returning is a must.
-I suppose that's all I have to say on the matter so, as always, may the Force be with you!
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