Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson recently spoke at the Democratic Unionist Party conference where he hinted that George Lucas might return to Star Wars by directing an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi film.
While listing off the accomplishments of the British people Johnson stated that George Lucas would direct a new Obi-Wan Kenobi movie in Northern Ireland.
“Which was the biggest grossing movie last year? Star Wars and where does George Lucas propose to make a follow up about Obi-Wan Kenobi? Northern Ireland.”
Johnson would go on to further praise the scientific accomplishments of his own constinuency in Uxbridge and South Ruislip:
“But what is the name of the weapon wielded by Obi-Wan. The glowing throbbing rod with its enigmatic hum. A light sabre – and where did they make the first light sabre?
Yes, it was in my own constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Take the scenic splendour and cinematic expertise of Nothern Ireland, add the inventiveness of Uxbridge and you have the creative genius of the United Kingdom.”
If Johnson’s statement is accurate this is big news especially considering Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy, detailed in August that Disney didn’t have any plans for an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie.
“I would totally do it, of course. There’s no plans, as such, to do it as far as I know.”
However, in August of 2017, a report indicated an Obi-Wan Kenobi film had been green lighted by Disney and the studio was in negotiations with director Stephen Daldry for the project. In fact, there was even a rumored working title for the project as of last December.
But what makes this statement by Johnson even more interesting is the fact that Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted Disney made a mistake with their Star Wars franchise. He indicated that he tried to do too many films too quickly.
It’s quite possible that the originally announced Obi-Wan Kenobi film, might actually transition into a streaming television series akin to what Disney and Star Wars are doing with Jon Favreau’s Mandalorian, that project is currently filming in California and will debut on the Disney+ streaming service.
It’s not unheard of for television shows to film on location. Most notably Game of Thrones filmed a number of their sets in Northern Ireland including the scenes involving the Stark’s stronghold at Winterfell. Those scenes were filmed at Castle Ward in County Down.
As for Disney, they are no strangers to the beauty of Ireland. They filmed much of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi on location throughout Ireland including in Malin Head, Donegal, Skellig Michael, and locations in County Kerry. There were also reports of Lucas arriving in Belfast before Christmas last year to scout out locations for a film about Obi-Wan Kenobi. A source told the Belfast Telegraph, “We’ve been told there will be work throughout 2019 because Star Wars is coming to Belfast.”
It’s quite possible Johnsons entire speech might be going off this Belfast Telegraph report and that information might be completely outdated given McGregor’s more recent comments indicating there were no plans for an Obi-Wan Kenobi film and Iger’s even more recent comments stating they had put out too many movies too quickly.
What do you think? Do you think Lucas might be directing an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi movie? Or is Johnson simply misinformed?