Obi Wan Series Director Confirmed by Lucasfilm as Deborah Chow

At D23 in December, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy officially announced Deborah Chow will be the exclusive director for the Obi Wan series being released on Disney+. Deborah Chow is a Canadian director and screenwriter best known for her work on The Mandalorian, American Gods, and The Man in the High Castle.

Chow has not yet begun filming for the show. The Obi Wan series release date is not confirmed but is expected sometime in early 2022. The cast includes Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen, who will be reprising their iconic roles from Revenge of the Sith. The Obi Wan timeline will be taking place 10 years after the end of Revenge of the Sith and just a few years after Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Deborah Chow has won several awards and accolades for her work, so it's not surprising that Disney selected her to lead the Obi Wan series. Some of her awards include Best Short at the Turin Film Festival and Comedy Central Award for Best Comedy Screenplay.

This won't be her first time directing a major show under the Disney umbrella. In 2019 she directed two episodes of The Mandalorian. She also directed an episode of Marvel's Iron Fist and Marvel's Jessica Jones for Netflix.

The Mandalorian episodes she directed, titled "The Sin" and "The Reckoning" were both rated 9.1 on IMDB and received some of the highest critical acclaim of the series. It's no wonder that Disney decided to add her talent to additional Star Wars properties.

In her work on the Mandalorian, Chow said in an interview with the podcast Still Watching by Vanity Fair that she was inspired by the classic samurai story of 1961's Yojimbo, who is a wandering ronin without a master. Chow said, "It was kind of an amazing thing because it was like coming back to classic cinema and filmmaking."

After watching The Mandalorian myself, I can see Chow's inspiration translated perfectly. Mando certainly has the vibes from Yojimbo, and it fits the theme and story well. It will be exciting to see what inspiration and references she will select for the filming of the Obi Wan series.

The Obi Wan series is expected to be 6 episodes long; however, it was rumored to be cut down to 4 episodes. It will be in mini-series style and no additional seasons are expected. Even if it was a runaway hit, Ewan McGregor is a sought after actor, so booking him for additional seasons could pose a difficulty. The show will air exclusively on Disney+.

Are you excited to see new talent such as Deborah Chow directing the Obi Wan series? Leave us a comment below!