Following the success of Star Wars spin-off “The Mandalorian,” a posting by the Film & Television Industry Alliance states that a new television series about Master Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi will be shot in Boston.
“Tatooine-a harsh desert world where farmers toil in the heat of two suns while trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from the marauding Tusken Raiders. A backwater planet on the edge of civilized space,” the statement reads. “And an unlikely place to find a Jedi Master in hiding, or an orphaned infant boy on whose tiny shoulders rests the future of a galaxy,” a project summary states.
The Disney plus series, “Star Wars: Kenobi” is set to start filming on Jan. 4, 2021, in Boston and London, England for the same date, which will see Ewan McGregor donning the Jedi robes once again.
In an interview with the BBC, McGregor said that the series will not only be staring him as Kenobi, originally played by Alec Guinness, but he will be in a lot of the scenes.
During the same BBC interview, McGregor also addressed his appreciation for Guinness, who played Kenobi in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and died in 2000.
The series was first announced back in Aug. 2019, and meant to begin filming the next year, but the shoot was delayed when writer Hossein Amini left the project in Jan. 2020.
Amini was replaced by writer Joby Harold in April 2020. A variety of factors delayed the start date, not least the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deborah Chow is the first woman of color to direct episodes of a “Star Wars” series with “The Mandalorian” is also going to direct the Kenobi series.
“It’s definitely going to be different,” said Chow in an interview with SuperHeroHype. “Just in terms of the sheer workload, obviously, of doing the whole thing. But in some ways, I’m going to miss having a team and having people who are there to bounce ideas off of. But then obviously the flip side is, it is nice to have a coherent voice and know what you’re doing from beginning to end.”
On Tuesday, Boston’s South Station also saw Hollywood superstars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence filming for a new apocalyptic comedy Netflix Movie, “Don’t look up.”
Directed by Adam McKay, the pair of astronomers (DiCaprio and Lawrence) try to warn everyone on Earth that a giant meteorite will destroy the planet, according to IMDb.
“I’m so thrilled to make this movie with Jen Lawrence,” said McKay. “She’s what folks in the 17th century used to call “a dynamite act”. And the fact that Netflix sees this movie as a worldwide comedy sets the bar high for me and my team in an exciting and motivating way.”
