Knowing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen will be back for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series, directed by Deborah Chow, is enough to make myself and many other fans excited it, but today the official site announced the remaining cast and holy Force is it stacked and wonderfully diverse: Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie. With the series, set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, beginning production in April, and this seemingly being a shift to Lucasfilm trying out a little more marketing than normal for these shows, maybe we’ll get some BTS fun for May the Fourth? Regardless, let’s dive into the casting announcements below!
With Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse’s announcements, that means the return of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru! These two originally played the characters in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, though they weren’t much more than minor roles, but I bet they’ll have more significant parts this time around. And with those two characters means, though not listed in the cast yet, a potential 10 year old Luke Skywalker! We saw Obi-Wan ‘interact’ with a young Luke, and we even dug into the nitty-gritty of the bad blood between Obi-Wan and Uncle Owen, thanks to the “Journals of Ben Kenobi” comic issues in the original run of the Star Wars comic series, and I hope, at the very least, they allude to those moments but I won’t be surprised if they don’t. In the end, welcome back Edgerton and Piesse!
Now for all the new-to-Star Wars cast! Moses Ingram played Jolene in the excellent limited series on Netflix, The Queen’s Gambit. She was one of my favorite characters from the show and I thought she was a stellar actress, so I’m eager to see what she will be up to next, especially here in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. Having such high billing on the cast card makes me wonder if she’ll play a vital, central role, which would be excellent. UPDATE: As I was writing this article (I typically write at work and can finally post when I get home), Ingram posted on Instagram that she “plays with lightsabers.” Now that is quite the tease!!! I do hope she’s playing a new character, but this does make one wonder, especially if all the rumors of the show including Clone Wars-era flashbacks come true, could she be playing a younger Ahsoka Tano? I actually hope it’s not true, as it’d be great for new characters as I mentioned before, but I won’t be mad if she turns out to be Tano. Otherwise, Inquisitor? Another Jedi survivor Obi-Wan and/or Vader runs into? Just someone who literally plays with Obi-Wan’s lightsaber as she gets involved with his life someway? It seems her role truly will be a big one and I’m even more excited for her!
Kumail Nanjiani likely needs no introduction, thanks to his roles in Silicon Valley, The Big Sick, and his upcoming part in Marvel’s Eternals, but it’s still so dang thrilling to see him among the cast and in Star Wars! I’ll be curious if he’ll play on the comedic side or not, though it won’t matter in the end because he definitely has the range for whatever role he’ll be in.
Rumors swirled not long ago about Indira Varma joining the series and today it’s been confirmed; she’s the only cast they announced today that rumors mentioned, so that’s pretty impressive given the track record for Lucasfilm reveals! Anyways, Varma is likely best known for her role as Ellaria Sand in Game of Thrones, where she starred alongside Din Djarrin himself, Pedro Pascal. She has such an awesome presence on the screen in every role I’ve seen her in and I imagine that’ll be no different here; she’s be great then as an Inquisitor, if they get involved in the series’ story, or even as A’Yark if they pull some Tusken Raider interactions from the stunningly great Legends’ Kenobi novel, but I’m just happy with whatever role she’ll be in (once again, hopefully a new character)!
I know of Rupert Friend from his role in Showtime’s Homeland series, though many may recall him from 2005’s Pride & Prejudice. If there’s anyone I’d bet playing a type of Imperial character, maybe even in scenes with Vader himself (if he appears beyond Hayden playing the character in something like dream sequences that haunt Obi-Wan), it’s Friend, but I’m always happy to be surprised.
I unfortunately haven’t seen O’Shea Jackson Jr. in any of his roles, but if he was picked to play Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton (I mean, he is Ice Cube’s son, but still!), he should have a large, memorable presence in whatever role he takes in Obi-Wan Kenobi. He celebrated a bit in a Tweet today!
Sung Kang should be another recognizable name to many fans for his recurring role in the Fast & Furious franchise; is he going to show the citizens of Tatooine how to really drive a landspeeder?! He’s got quite the extensive list of roles in TV and I’m excited for him to break out a bit from the billion dollar franchise to enjoy this billion dollar franchise. And it seems Kang was always destined to be in Star Wars, thanks to a funny little Easter Egg in the F&F films.
It took me a minute to remember where I knew Simone Kessell from: Terra Nova, a short-live genre show on FOX (that happens a lot there)! She’s had a bigger career beyond that, in shows like Wonderland and Of Kings and Prophets, and this is another great step in that career. By the way, I’m doing my best to avoid making a Kessel run joke here.
And the last cast member announced is Benny Safdie and he’s the one I know the least about. I know I sit among the unpopular opinion on this, but he directed Uncut Gems and I was not a fan of the movie, at all (like, I didn’t even finish it). I haven’t seen any of his other films or any of the content he’s starred in, but I’m going to guess with someone on Tatooine Obi-Wan has infrequent deals with, maybe even some underground stuff in associated with the Hutts, considering the content of Uncut Gems.
In the end, the Obi-Wan Kenobi has an excellent, diverse cast and my excitement for this show really is having trouble being contained. I expect it’ll release sometime in 2022.
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
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