Apparently, they were worried that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was getting too close to the “Lone Wolf and Cub” style of story with an older fighter protecting a young child. That storyline is the main one in “The Mandalorian,” and the Mandalorian episodes of “The Book of Boba Fett” even featured a scene right out of “Lone Wolf and Cub” manga with Grogu deciding between a lightsaber and the little chainmail shirt that Din leaves for him as a present. (In the manga, it’s between a ball and a sword.) 

In “Obi-Wan,” we would have had an older Kenobi protecting a young Luke Skywalker. The change makes sense, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing that. It’s not like “Star Wars” doesn’t have themes that repeat. Anyone ever notice how many limbs are cut off in “Star Wars”? In addition, Filoni and Favreau reportedly asked Chow to “go bigger” with the series, leading Kennedy to pause the show, and to the hiring of Joby Harold as the new showrunner. 

Though there isn’t a lot of information about how far things went before the change, the site reports that they’d chosen a kid to play young Skywalker (read that in the Emperor’s voice) but that no scenes had been shot. Now the role of Luke has gone to Grant Feely.

Whatever was going to happen, it doesn’t matter in the end (except to that poor kid who was originally cast — I hope they put him in something else). The trailer looks amazing and I’m ready for it with my entire soul. 

“Obi-Wan Kenobi” will premiere on Disney+ on May 25, 2022.