Star Wars not “actively” working on Rian Johnson movies or Obi-Wan season 2, says Kathleen Kennedy
Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy suggests you shouldn't hold your breath for that "trilogy" of Rian Johnson Star Wars movies
Aux News Kathleen Kennedy
It’s Star Wars Celebration in London this weekend, the regular event in which our society somehow conspires to give even more of a shit about Star Wars stuff than it already does on every single other day of the year. So far, that’s included some big reveals—including a new movie that’ll star Daisy Ridley’s Rey, and the first trailer for Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka show. But what of the hypes of yesteryear? Whither those projects that were once the darlings of Celebration, but have now gone very, very quiet?
This is per Variety, which hopped on the phone with Star Wars Head Honcho Kathleen Kennedy this weekend to get updates on projects like Rian Johnson and Taika Waititi’s long-gestating Star Wars movies, and to weigh in on the fate of Disney+ series Obi-Wan. Which are, uh, not looking too rosy, in general.
We’ll start with the most optimistic news: Waititi’s movie is still apparently a (very slow) go, with the writer-director plugging away at a script. Kennedy says “We’re going to make that one day.” but notes that Waititi is working on the script solo, so as not to dilute his “ very, very unique voice.”
The Johnson “trilogy,” though… “Rian and I talk all the time,” Kennedy asserted. But, “He is unbelievably busy. So we’re not actively involved in anything at the moment because he’s doing another one of the Glass Onion movies and then God knows what else. But he really wants to step back into the space. It’s a big commitment of time, so that’s really on him.” (It is generally considered not great, in terms of making a movie, when your studio head uses “God knows” when describing your scheduling.)
And don’t hold out hopes for another season of Obi-Wan, either: “That is not an active development,” Kennedy admitted. “But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility. That show was so well-received and Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job. Ewan McGregor really wants to do another.” (“Never say never”: Also not a great phrase in terms of a project ever getting made.)
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Eh. I’m fine with this. With all the Star Wars content we’re getting in the next few years it’s not like we’re starving for it. And frankly, Rian Johnson deserves better. Also, I thought Obi-Wan was just a one and done.
Honestly, good. Just stop dragging out the obvious and officially end the Johnson project. Regardless of how you feel about TLJ, whether you loved it, hated it, or somewhere in between, both sides would benefit from going their separate ways. SW has plenty of content already. Rian Johnson is doing just fine, making great content with his other work.
As for Obi-Wan, we definitely don’t need a season 2. Season 1 really struggled because it was apparent it should have been a 2 hr movie that they stretched out into a TV show. It really dragged in parts and didn’t add any context to the story we already knew. We got a cool Obi-Wan vs Vader visual, but that’s about it.
They’re not saying it but if you follow the development scuttlebutt like I have, the Mangold project is basically the same project that Johnson and Benioff and Weiss had pitched as their projects to Lucasfilm. Both projects were first Jedi/origins of the force stories.So even if they aren’t saying it, if this Mangold project actually happens, then they’ve admitted it’s dead.
As the Emperor has foreseen.
Come, boy, see for yourself. From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Rian Johnson trilogy and the end of your insignificant Obi-Wan series.
Now, I don’t know if Johnson is taking any suggestions for what his Star Wars movie should be, but I have a simple three-word pitch:“Knives Outer Space”. Something something a Jedi is murdered, something something Daniel Craig is billed as the star but the real protagonist is a member of a marginalized group who’s up against the cutthroat rich… You get it. I’d watch a Star Wars murder-mystery done by Rian Johnson.
Unpopular opinion, but I loved the Obi-Wan series. I also thought it ended perfectly and didn’t need a second season, so I’m actually kind of relieved to hear this.
Agreed. It wasn’t perfect, but it filled in a lot of gaps between the prequels and the original trilogy nicely. Making another one would feel too contrived, like Bruce Willis in the Die Hard sequels having terrorist attacks happen everywhere he goes.
Agreed. By far my favorite thing about it was the relationship between Obi-Wan and Leia, and there’s no way to do more of that without shooting big holes in the canon. It was lovely for what it was, and it’s done now.
I really enjoyed it too.
“(It is generally considered not great, in terms of making a movie, when your studio head uses “God knows” when describing your scheduling.”I mean, of course. What is she supposed to say when the director she spent years boosting signed a big deal with the competition that will keep him busy for many, many years? Can’t blame him for choosing more control and greater profit participation.
I mean, presumably God does know, but you also know how Rian Johnson likes to subvert expectations. Even Christ Himself was reported to be “perplexed” by the Canto Blight subplot.
I heard that Judas liked that subplot, though.
i loved, loved, *loved* Kenobi, and i’m sad to hear that it’s not going forward (yet). there’s more to tell, and Ewan is on board and he’s so great… please don’t let this series die. it would be a huge missed opportunity.
I enjoyed Kenobi too, mostly for McGregor’s performance.
he clearly studied Alec Guinness, and his portrayal of Guinness’s mannerisms really sold it for me. they were often so subtle, but perfectly done.
He got to imbue the character with a lot of subtly that was lacking in the prequels due to George Lucas’s directorial style. You really got to see the depth of his talent in a way we couldn’t in the prequels.
I see no reason to rush it though, it’s good they didn’t just decide “season two will come out in 2024, now come up with an idea.”
I agree, but I also don’t mind this approach. There are limited stories to tell for the character in the time between the existing season and his appearance in Rebels, and quite a few years to tell them before Ewan gets too old to play the part. If it lies fallow for 3-5 years while they develop a really good story, and we see Season 2 is 2028 or something, that’ll be just fine by me. As they say, quality over quantity, and I can be patient if it’s worth the wait.
Is there? Cause the series as it was kinda scraped the barrel to the point the whole fan service was the only thing it had going for it. Plus you’d need a good excuse for Obi to temporary leave his exile again for the second time.
i think so. for one, the mention that he has/had a brother is quite the bombshell, and there’s still years between where the series left off and where A New Hope begins.
I’m not going to say Kathleen Kennedy shouldn’t be in charge of Star Wars, but keep her away from Star Trek. We already have it bad enough with Kurtzman.
That’s not up to you tocdecide and it is already an open secret that she is likely to leave to after Indy 5.
Oh no, she’s going to announce a 25th century show and then cancel it, isn’t she?
No, as in she very likely to leave Lucasfilms after Indy 5 and find work elsewhere, while someone else takes her old post.
Is this true? The lackluster Sequel Trilogy should be blamed on her.
First off, your feeling about that trilogy are irrelevant. Second, that’s according to some inside sources. But whether it actually happens is up in the air until after Indiana Jones 5 comes and goes.
You say that like Trek was doing well when Kurtzman got involved.
Why the fuck are you greyed? And yeah, I know. But still.
In November 2021 all my comments since the Kinjapocalypse disappeared and I couldn’t make any new comments people could see, so I connected my account through a different site and I can make comments again but my new account’s been unable to get out of the grays ever since(I even tried connecting through a different site again a few months ago but same problem).
Disappointing. TLJ was a striking movie and I would’ve loved to see more in that vein. I get it, though. A trilogy would be like a decade of the man’s career that could be better spent making original projects without built-in legions of easy- to-upset fanboys.
That’s is the inevitable side effect of when people care too much about a thing. Having the execution of the new vision be garbled doesn’t help either.
wish they could retroactively not make the first season of obi wan, either.
Why? It’s not like it sullied the franchise. There’s so much bad Star Wars it just seems silly to get upset when they release more bad Star Wars. I was actually mildly annoyed when Andor turned out to be so great. I know it won’t happen anytime soon, but I wish they’d just reboot the whole thing.
Why? It’s not like the bad Star Wars stuff would be erased from existence. Rebooting the whole thing to me seems like a cynical way to retread tired ground and regurgitate the same stories we’ve already been told under the guise of “hey we’re going to do it ‘right’ this time.”Just flash forward a century. Or go back and tell some stories set during the old republic. Just tell good stories.
I don’t need anything erased from existence, that’s actually what I was arguing against when I said “why?” I think it’s a cool setting, Jedi are awesome. The execution has left a lot to be desired, though. Lots of movies I never want to see again and sooo many retcons. I love how if you go back to the first movie like 80% of what Obi-Wan tells Luke turns out not to be accurate. I guess I’d just rather they take a shot at doing it right than keep trying to build on what’s there. For example they’re currently telling post-ROTJ stories and I think they’re hampered by the non-availability Luke/Leia/Han and also by the sequel trilogy. You can’t really skip ahead 20-30 years say “nothing of consequence happened, here’s the rebellion vs the fascists again” and then flash back to the period you skipped and have suspense. At least on the level of stakes that they insist on working with.
I agree about that post-RotJ period lacking stakes, but I think it’s worth noting that it was already a reboot of the post-RotJ expanded universe we got before. I dunno’, the older I get, the increasingly creatively bankrupt I think reboots are. They often straddle a weird line between “Forget everything that’s come before!” and retelling/rehashing/repeating the same story beats that were told before. At least by building on what’s come before, it challenges the writers to mine gold from the shit. I would even argue that’s been the MCU’s greatest strength: recontextualizing moments from their weaker movies to make something that previously felt disposable suddenly feel planned.With Star Wars, yeah the sequel trilogy is a dumpster fire and there’s no suspense in the period between the OT and the ST, so just keep moving forward IMO. Stop reviving the Empire and figure out some new challenge the Galaxy has to face.
I agree, reboots are lazy, and I applaud Marvel comics for never doing one. It has been a mess for DC comics. Crisis on Infinite Earths was the only time it worked, and that has duped them into doing it again and again.That said, Star Wars has already broken the seal, and I would be happy if they rebooted everything post-Mando. That time period in Disney canon is is straight awful.
I’ll stick up for DC in that Crisis on Infinite Earths is not the reboot everyone remembers. It merged all of the Earths together and, yes, some characters like Superman and Wonder Woman were rebooted, but the vast majority of titles that weren’t cancelled continued as if nothing more than a mild inconvenience happened. Events like Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis were similarly used as excuses to “fix” continuity, revive characters, or rewrite backstories, but in all of those cases, they were more about launching new books and trying to boost sales than really rebooting anything. Flashpoint/The New 52 was a true company-wide reboot, but I dislike that they didn’t have the balls to reboot Batman and Green Lantern with everyone else because the sales of their books were going too strong. For Marvel’s part, the Ultimate titles were absolutely a reboot for all intents and purposes, and they used it as an excuse to retell stories like the Clone Saga. Marvel was smart not to actually replace their main universe though, but in their case, their insistence on “never rebooting” has always made it hard for me to get into their books. Much like Batman & Green Lantern post-Flashpoint, I can’t suspend my disbelief enough to buy that decades’ worth of stories all happened within ten years of comic time.Everything post-Mandalorian in Star Wars might be awful (seriously, I agree) but I’m just not interested in seeing a new group of writers who work for the same bosses the previous group did try and “do it right this time.” I don’t care anymore about seeing the remnants of the Empire cling to relevance. Skip ahead and tell truly new stories.
Mainly because it was pretty inept storytelling. Clumsy dialogue, plot holes you could ride a rancor through, characters acting like morons so that the show can happen, people getting stabbed by lightsabers and then showing up again a little while later just fine, etc. I liked the idea, and I don’t care about the continuity breaks. There were plenty of cool moments, and the acting was fine, but the writing fell apart.
i mean, i’m not upset but i didn’t like it and thought it was bad so i made a pithy comment about it. but i agree most star wars is bad.
Fair enough! I don’t think it was good either, but I still managed to enjoy most of it.
…Do you think she’ll say anything more concrete after she leaves or is that going to remain a discussion that leads to nowhere?
Not sad about either of those reports. I’d much rather have Rian Johnson making more Benoit Blanc mystery movies, and the Obi-Wan series had some charm but mostly felt like a squandered opportunity (although they did some amazing child actor casting with that film). Only other Rian Johnson Star Wars movie I want him to make is if they hire him to make a Lando heist movie.
Obi-Wan had a few good parts but man was it hacked together and written with ambition that far exceeded its ability to execute.McGregor killed it though.
Ewan was good, but the show was definitely not the best thing since sliced bread.