Could Obi-Wan Be Appearing In Episodes VIII And IX?

One of the biggest things that got the new Star Wars movies going was the announcement of the return of the main characters from the original trilogy, Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2D2.  This got fans all worked up to see the film, and it worked.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens made over $1.2 billion world wide, and it opened the door for future projects that deal with a galaxy far, far away.  Case in point, in just under a few weeks, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will open in theaters, and it will be the first Star Wars movie that will one, take place outside of the regular "Episode" films (which have also been referred to as the "Skywalker Saga"), and two, it will be the first Star Wars film to (at least it's being rumored to) not have the opening crawl that we've become accustomed to.  Rogue One will also be featuring Darth Vader, who will once again be voiced by James Earl Jones.  Bringing back the original actors seems to be working for the franchise, and it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon, either.


Case in point, Ewan McGregor has voiced his desire to reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and there had been rumors that an Obi-Wan stand alone film might be in the works, but then it was announced that the next film in the "Anthology Series" would instead be a story featuring a young Han Solo.  While the news of a Han Solo film was a welcome one to fans, it was surprising that they went this route instead of making an Obi-Wan film, since the actor already said that he was interested in playing him again, and that bringing back actors from the previous films seems to be good business for the franchise.  So why not an Obi-Wan stand alone film?


In an interview with Rebel Force Radio, Anthony Breznican from EW said that while he can't confirm directly what Lucasfilm is planning on doing with future projects, he did say the following:


"Um, I have heard rumors that the one reason they haven’t moved sooner on Obi-Wan is that they’re not done with Obi-Wan quite yet… in the Saga films. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Obi-Wan thing happen beyond Episode IX."


This actually makes a lot of sense.  In fact, McGregor was called in to speak some lines for The Force Awakens which were used in Rey's "Lightsaber Dream," a scene that also used Sir Alec Guinness' voice as well.  Using him in future films wouldn't be that big of a surprise, since we know that Luke has been in contact with the Force Spirit of Obi-Wan since he first saw him on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.  But why would Luke need to turn to Obi-Wan for guidance?  You would think that with all of the experience Luke has gained over the last thirty years, he should be pretty in tune with the Force that he'd be able to figure things out on his own, right?  I guess you're never too old to take advice from a mentor.


While the Saga films may not be done with Obi-Wan yet, a stand alone film still isn't out of the question for him.  We'll just have to wait until this current trilogy comes to it's conclusion.  Where they go after that is anyone's guess.