Fans of Hulu’s PEN15 are going to have a good reason to tune in to the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series currently preparing production for a six-episode run on Disney+.
According to an exclusive report in Deadline, PEN15’s award-winning co-creator and lead actress Maya Erskine is set to have a supporting role in “at least three episodes” of the highly anticipated live-action limited Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which will follow the Jedi Master in his middle age and takes places between the events of the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy.
What’s happening:
- Actress Maya Erskine, who plays the character of Maya Ishii-Peters on the acclaimed Hulu sitcom PEN15— not to mention co-created the series– has reportedly been cast in the live-action Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series currently in pre-production for release on Disney+.
- Erskine is also known for her roles in Wine Country, Betas, and Insecure. She was nominated for an Emmy in 2019 for writing PEN15, won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Series that same year, and has been nominated for three Writers Guild of America Awards.
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi was officially announced at D23 Expo 2019 and will consist of six one-hour episodes. The series will be directed by Deborah Chow of The Mandalorian and will star Ewan McGregor as the title character, Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars, Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru, plus comedian Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) and Game of Thrones star Indira Varma in unspecified roles. No release date for the limited series has yet been announced, though production is scheduled to begin “any day now,” according to Deadline.
What they’re saying:
- Deadline: “Disney+ Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi is adding PEN15 star and co-creator Maya Erskine, we can reveal. The Insecure and Scoob! actress will have a supporting role in at least three episodes, we hear.”
- “Plot details are being kept under wraps on the series, which takes place 10 years after Revenge Of The Sith and nine years before A New Hope, in an era after the Jedi Order has been all but wiped out. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has teased the “rematch of the century”, presumably between Obi-Wan and his pupil-turned-enemy Vader.”