Obi-Wan Director Deborah Chow:

As we loom closer to the premiere of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, things will start to shape up for the upcoming Star Wars Disney+ series. Speaking with EW, director Deborah Chow provided more context about how it factors into the current franchise canon. “The story for us, it takes place 10 years after ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ So we are right between the prequels and the original trilogy,” she explained. “And really, it’s a character story about Obi-Wan. And, in large part, the story that we’ve been trying to tell is his journey of how he went from the end of ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ with all the pain and the tragedy that happened in that ending, to become the calm and the peaceful Alec Guinness that walked into ‘A New Hope.’ So we’re trying to tell that moment of transition of how did he get from here to here.”

One of the primary focuses of the series is how the title character played by Ewan McGregor is mourning the loss of his student and best friend Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) to the dark side, becoming Darth Vader. “At this point, both for him and for the galaxy, it’s quite a dark period. And that actually made it really interesting to be telling a story in this period. It’s a time when the Empire’s ascending, it’s post Order 66. So most of the Jedi have been killed. A lot of them are being hunted by the Inquisitors. So it’s a very dark time to be a Jedi and most of them are hiding or dead. So for him at this point 10 years later, we’re dealing with post Order 66 after Anakin, who he believes he killed, and then all his friends — everybody sort of gone or hiding. So it’s a tough period for Obi-Wan.”

On the hunt for the Jedi are the inquisitors, which were originally introduced on the Dave Filoni animated Star Wars shows. “Obviously, they’re from ‘Rebels’, and it was really exciting to get to do them for the first time in live-action,” Chow explained. “They’re established characters and whatnot, so we brought them into the show and it’s largely because they were out there. They’re Jedi hunters, so they’re under Vader and Palpatine, and they’re basically dark side wielders that their primary purpose is to hunt down Jedi.” Obi-Wan has a tall task following up the success of the previous live-action Star Wars Disney+ shows.

“Yeah, it was interesting and I think for me having gone through ‘The Mandalorian’ — and thank goodness I did — that was really my introduction to the responsibility to this universe and how to tell stories in this galaxy,” Chow said. “So, it was so helpful having gone through that already before taking this one on. But there really is a responsibility to it. You want to respect the canon, but you also want to have your voice in the canon, and you don’t want to just retread or do the same thing again. So there were definitely people that were extremely helpful. Lucasfilm has a great team that helps support that. But I would say Dave Filoni was very pivotal for me, both in terms of ‘The Mandalorian’ and in terms of the Star Wars of it all, as well as Jon Favreau. But Dave also was a touchstone and remains a touchstone for me for this series. Anytime I have a question about canon, I go to him.”

As far as creative forces, Chow also benefitted from McGregor’s own input. “Wonderful. For me, he was honestly more than an actor. He was a real creative partner in the show and he really is just sort of seamless to the character,” she said. “There are just some actors and roles where there’s just such a meshing where they are one, and that’s what it felt like for me.” Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on May 27 on Disney+.