The Star Wars films have thus far only been directed by white men. But Deborah Chow quietly became the first female person of colour to direct a live-action Star Wars property with the most recent episode of the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian. Now, she has another Star Wars project in the works. Chow will direct the Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff series set to star Ewan McGregor.
Chow has more Mandalorian episodes to come, and she’s got plenty of experience with helming big shows, having previously directed episodes of Mr. Robot, Better Call Saul and Jessica Jones. Hossein Amini (The Alienist) has written the Obi-Wan series, which is expected to be between six to eight episodes long.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy previously said of Chow’s hiring: “We really wanted to select a director who is able to explore both the quiet determination and rich mystique of Obi-Wan in a way that folds seamlessly into the Star Wars saga. Based on her phenomenal work developing our characters in The Mandalorian, I’m absolutely confident Deborah is the right director to tell this story”.
When Chow spoke to the NY Times about the project, she was asked if anything she learned on The Mandalorian prepared her to take on the new spinoff series:
“Absolutely. One of the biggest benefits is that I just spent the last year in the Star Wars universe and I had great mentors […] Absorbing that, I feel, was the best training I could have had to take on the next one. So much of it just feeling it and understanding it, on an instinctual level, to know what’s right and what’s wrong with it […] Every detail really matters”.
Filming on the Obi-Wan series will begin in 2020, and is expected to be set eight years after Revenge Of The Sith (and thus eleven years before A New Hope). Prepare for the Star Wars timeline to get even more dense and complex.
#Peace.Love.ObiWanKenobi
