Obi-Wan Kenobi, portrayed by Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars movie, could get a standalone film.

It looks like the Star Wars universe of movies may continue to expand with standalone films, and while an Obi-Wan Kenobi entry is far from their only hope, it could be the next one. The Han Solo standalone film is in the final stages of shooting under new director Ron Howard (who replaced Phil Lord and Christopher Miller when they were suddenly let go mid-project in June), and now The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit writes that Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry is in early talks to direct a standalone film on Obi-Wan Kenobi:

The Oscar-nominated director behind Billy Elliot and The Hours is in early talks to direct a Star Wars stand-alone movie centering on Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. 

Sources say talks are at the earliest of stages and that the project has no script. If a deal makes, Daldry would oversee the development and writing with Lucasfilm brass.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi stand-alone is one of several projects being developed by Lucasfilm and Disney that fall outside the trilogies telling the saga of the Skywalker family. A Han Solo movie is now in the final stages of shooting under new director Ron Howard, and Lucasfilm is also considering movies centering on Yoda and bounty hunter Boba Fett, among other characters.

So, this isn’t the only standalone project that Lucasfilm is considering, and it’s still in very early discussions, but it’s certainly notable that talks about a Kenobi film exist and that they involve a prominent director like Daldry. He’s received directing Oscar nominations for Billy ElliotThe Hours, and The Reader, and directed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Most recently, he recently directed episodes of Netflix’s The Crown, earning an Emmy nomination there. He’s also won a Tony and two Olivier Awards for his work as a stage director.

Of course, those projects are all more drama than action or science fiction, but The Hours and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in particular were relatively high-budget pictures with notable casts. And Daldry also did adventure film Trash in 2014, so he has some experience on more combat-filled projects, and he directed the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2012 London Olympics, so he certainly has worked on giant projects (which any Star Wars film will definitely be). At the very least, he’s an intriguing figure to have linked to this project.

The idea of a Kenobi standalone film is an interesting one, too. [Warning: some spoilers for the Star Wars series and some fan theory discussion follows.] Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness in the original Star WarsA New Hope (Guinness earned an Oscar nomination for the role), is an important figure there as the intended recipient of Princess Leia Organa’s message and the man who gets Luke Skywalker to leave Tatooine and teaches him about the Jedi and the Force. He’s also revealed to be the former instructor of Darth Vader, and is killed by Vader in a lightsaber duel. But he then appears to Luke as a voice and in visions later in the movie and in the rest of the original trilogy, and relays some important information.

Kenobi’s past as a Jedi Knight and his training of Anakin Skywalker (who would go on to become Vader) is discussed pretty extensively in the Star Wars prequel films (where he’s portrayed by Ewan McGregor), so it seems unlikely (albeit possible) the series would return to that specific time period. However, there’s a lot of potentially interesting off-screen time between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, with Kenobi hiding Skywalker’s children (Luke and Leia) and living on Tatooine as a hermit observing Luke. And some fan theories suggest that Kenobi is the father of Rey, a key character in The Force Awakens and presumably the subsequent films in the new trilogy. If that turns out to be the case, exploring Kenobi’s life in between the prequels and the original trilogy might be even more important.

With no script yet, there hasn’t been any word on casting, but it’s possible that McGregor could reprise his role as Kenobi from the Star Wars prequels (and perhaps wind up playing him in a better movie as a result). He’s previously said he’s open to playing Kenobi again. It’s also possible that if the film gets close to the events of A New Hope, the filmmakers could insert some CGI footage of Guinness, as they did with Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) in Rogue One. In any case, all of that’s a long ways off. But we know now that Lucasfilm’s eyeing more of these standalone films, that Kenobi’s story is a candidate for one, and that Daldry could be involved. This will be one to keep an eye on.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.