Disney Announces May Release For 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Streaming Series

Walt Disney Co. DIS has announced a May premiere date on Disney+ for “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the new live-action installment in the Lucasfilm “Star Wars” franchise.

What Happened: “Obi-Wan Kenobi” takes place 10 years after the climax of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” when the Jedi master was unable to stop the corruption of his best friend and apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side and took on the persona of the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprise their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, respectively, with McGregor serving as a co-executive producer. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse are also in the cast, reprising their roles of Luke Skywalker’s uncle and aunt from earlier “Star Wars” productions.

Deborah Chow, the director of “The Mandalorian,” is directing the six-episode series. The studio has not released a trailer yet, although a concept art poster (shown above) is now online.

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Why It Matters: Disney has initially planned “Obi-Wan Kenobi” as a feature film, but the idea was dropped after the commercial disappointment of the 2018 film “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The project was redirected to Disney+ as a streaming series in 2019, but production was delayed by script rewrites and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “Star Wars”-inspired series “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” have been highly popular with Disney+ audiences, and another entry in the series, “Andor,” a prequel to the 2016 film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” is slated to run on the streaming service later this year.

In the earnings report published yesterday, Disney said it had 196.4 million subscribers across its multiple streaming platforms as of the end of its fiscal first quarter, with 129.8 million subscribers for Disney+, up 37% year-over-year, with 11.8 million Disney+ subscribers added in the first quarter.

Domestic Disney+ subscribers were up 18% at 42.9 million, while International Disney+ subscribers (excluding Hotstar) grew 40% to 41.1 million. Disney reported average revenue per user of $4.41 for Disney+.

Photo: Courtesy of Disney+