Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
A new Star Wars trilogy, written and produced by Simon Kinberg, is in development at Lucasfilm.
Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy is also slated to produce, but a director has not been named yet.
Kinberg is known for writing several X-Men films like X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), as well as the panned Dark Phoenix (2019).
He also wrote Mr & Mrs Smith (2005), The Martian, Deadpool, and Cinderella in 2015.
Several Star Wars projects launched over the years, with directors Patty Jenkins and Rian Johnson, Marvel producer Kevin Feige, and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D B Weiss attached, ended up being abandoned.
Since The Rise of Skywalker, the most recent film in the Star Wars trilogy, there have been several live-action television series set in the same universe, like The Mandalorian, The Acolyte, and Ahsoka.
The Star Wars franchise is the second-highest-earning film franchise of all time after Marvel. Since Star Wars: Episode IV released in 1977, the films have grossed more than $10bn at the box office globally.
Recently, Star Wars concept and storyboard artist Iain McCaig revealed that, in The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi was actually going to be Qui-Gon Jinn, the character played by Liam Neeson.
Qui-Gon Jinn dies in The Phantom Menace, meaning the real Obi-Wan Kenobi was originally intended to be killed off by Darth Maul in the film.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was played by Sir Alec Guinness in the original trilogy, which started with Episode IV – A New Hope and ended in 1983 with Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Ewan McGregor was cast as a young version of the Jedi master, which he played across three films up until 2005 and, in 2022, his very own Disney+ series.
This would have made McGregor’s character a younger Jedi who adopts the name of his mentor, meaning that, if Lucas had proceeded with the twist, Guinness’s Obi-Wan would not have been the original Obi-Wan either.
McCaig explained: “For a time, the older Jedi was named Obi-Wan and the younger Jedi was named Qui-Gon. It was very poignant that at the end, as Obi-Wan dies and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his Master as he passes away, he not only takes on his Master’s quest, but he takes on his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan.”
