Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Future Is Unclear; ‘Mos Eisley’ Spin-Off Movie Rumors & More

OK, yes, this The Hollywood Reporter piece on “Star Wars” and Lucasfilm in the wake of the failure of “Solo: A Star Wars Story“—a film that’s going to gross less than even some of the 1980s version of the original trilogy movies, even unadjusted for inflation—is the gift that giveth and in the interest of not overcrowding a piece, let’s move onto the Obi-Wan side of things.

READ MORE: Lucasfilm “Reassessing” ‘Star Wars’ Spinoffs, ‘Boba Fett’ Is Still In Development & Could Be Scaled Down

To recap, THR says, “Star Wars” spin-offs are still in development, but are likely being “reassessed.” This news may mean something like the James Mangold-directed “Boba Fett” movie could be reconfigured and scaled back in size and scope.

READ MORE: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ & The Inherent Problem With Prequels

But what about the Obi-Wan movie? THR says the status of that film is “unclear.” Indeed, Stephen Daldry was in negotiations to direct the film sometime last year, but Lucasfilm never made an official announcement. In fact, no advancement was ever made on the story beyond. THR reached out for comment and both Lucasfilm and Daldry’s agency had nothing to say about the current state of the film. Rumors have said Ewan McGregor will reprise his role as the Master Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, but none of that is remotely official.

READ MORE: 5 Reasons ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Couldn’t Make The Jump To Hyperspace

Obi-Wan was rumored to have been prepping for a 2019 shoot, but given that no screenwriter was announced—though Sam Esmail of “Mr. Robot” was rumored—and Daldry’s participation was never confirmed, that did seem somewhat optimistic if not suspect (some have gone as far to speculate that “Obi-Wan”s pre-production was shut down, but I don’t know if that’s actually true).

READ MORE: Lucasfilm Denies Pausing Development Of Spin-Offs And Says “Multiple” Films Are In The Works

To weigh in a bit more and confuse matters, here’s what I’ve heard from a Disney source, at least six months ago, but never reported and I’m going to stress I have no confirmation, so we’ll have to treat as hard rumor. I was told long ago that Stephen Daldry was off the project and not directing the Obi-Wan film. Is that why confirmation was never given, or anything was announced? It’s a good guess, but none of us really know.

I’d also heard, and granted, I found this to be fairly dubious at the time, was that the Obi-Wan film was going to be saved for Disney’s upcoming unnamed subscription-based streaming service; the one they hope to compete against Netflix with.

Now, that’s a great idea. What way to make a gigantic splash with a new streaming service than to announce that a new “Star Wars” film is coming and only subscribers of the service—much like a Netflix-only exclusive—would be able to see the movie. I’m sure Disney has some kind of plans like that in the works, but whether or not that’s the Obi-Wan movie, I’m not sure I’d place that bet.

But THR’s sources are already talking about scaled-back, “reconfigured” “Star Wars” movies, so maybe it’s a possibility that a “Star Wars” movie may one day premiere on that streaming service when it’s up and running, but whether or not that’s Obi-Wan, I’ll say it, I don’t really believe that.

That’s not all for “Star Wars” rumors though none of these are remotely my intel. To round up a little of what’s been in the air of late, Making Star Wars—the fan site which received a major profile in Wired magazine in 2015— that in the hubbub of all this news, something major was missed: a Mos Eisley Spaceport movie was canceled or postponed. Mos Eisley is a spaceport on the planet of Tatooine where Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi meet Han Solo and Chewbacca. It is legendary for being a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

It’s also a place that could very reasonably be connected to the criminal underworld of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” given that the crime lord Jabba The Hutt lived on Tatooine and was featured there in “A New Hope” (Special Edition) and “Return Of The Jedi.” THR has an interesting nugget there suggesting that that side of the universe – the “Star Wars Underworld” as it’s affectionately known as—has been left dangling in the wind thanks to the ‘Solo’ disappointment.

Certainly, hopes for a ‘Solo‘ sequel may be dead in the water along with any ideas of exploring the sub-section that fans call the “Star Wars Underworld.” ‘Solo’ teed up opportunities for characters such as Lando Calrissian and Darth Maul, who both appeared in the film, to become central characters in sequels or spin-offs, but who knows what will happen to those ideas now.

And so that Mos Eisley/Underworld film in development? While Making Star Wars got that shiny Wired profile, as the magazine pointed out, the fan site has been wrong just as often as it’s been right. File under rumor.

Star Wars.Net, another fan site, also echoed off Collider’s original reports of the “Star Wars spin-off film news claiming lots of little nuggets, one that Disney did not let Lucasfilm push ‘Solo’ to December 2018 (plausible, Disney did not let Lucasfilm delay ‘The Force Awakens‘ when J.J. Abrams asked for an extension, but not confirmed) and two: that Lucasfilm was done experimenting with unusual filmmaking choices like Phil Lord and Chris Miller and would stick to veterans with big budget experience (not an unreasonable thought given all the up-and-comers fired or pushed off “Star Wars” movies).

Lastly, Richard Rushfield, who runs the Ankler newsletter and has been correct quite a bit about industry matters in the past, including Sue Kroll stepping down as the head of WB’s Worldwide Marketing and Stacey Snider’s interest in joining the Amazon brand and a few other industry stories reported that Kathleen Kennedy, the President of Lucasfilm, could leave and announce a successor in September. ” The talk out there is of a September changing of the guards. We’ll see,” the Ankler wrote recently, but that seems too premature. It would also be a massive overcorrection for Lucasfilm to oust Kennedy after one disappointment given all the massive success the company has made so far since being acquired for Disney. So treat that one with the tiniest grain of salt, but it did admittedly shake the foundations of “Star Wars” nerds when it was mentioned a few weeks back. That’s it for now. May the force be with your weekend or whatever.