Rumor Report: Is Obi-Wan Kenobi Actually Going To Be In Andor?

It's unconfirmed! It's unsourced! It's entirely unverifiable! And it's exactly the sort of rumor that Star Wars devotees get out of bed in the morning hoping to hear. According to recent word on the proverbial street, Ewan McGregor will be making an appearance in the upcoming Cassian Andor series on Disney+. Allegedly.

This scuttlebutt comes courtesy of The Illuminerdy, an internet pop culture scuttlebutt refinery and distribution center which claims to have exclusive confirmation of the Scottish actor's return to the Star Wars mythos ahead of his solo show, Obi-Wan Kenobi, slated for release in 2022. This confirmation, attributed to nobody, makes for a steamy slice of Hollywood gossip, crediting the Jedi with a "sizeable" and "reoccurring role" in the in-betweenquel streaming series.

Without much to go on, it seems worth digging into the possibilities of an Obi-Wan appearance in Andor. Would the timelines line up? Would the exiled Jedi's inclusion make sense canonically with the Cassian Andor story that's being told? How much more Star Wars can we fit in our collective heads before we all get numb from space opera oversaturation hypoxia and drift into unconsciousness? 

First, let's take a look at the Star Wars timeline. A long time ago in a galaxy notable for its distance from our own, when last we saw Ewan McGregor's take on Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was dropping Luke Skywalker off with his step-uncle to live out a life of blissful complaining about power converters. This occurred during the in-universe year of 19 BBY, or "Before the Battle of Yavin." Obi-Wan was born in 57 BBY, making him a young buck of 38 summers at the end of Revenge of the Sith, and thus 57 years old when he dies in A New Hope.

Andor, meanwhile, is set roughly five years before Rogue One and A New Hope, according to what we've heard so far. That would put Obi-Wan at 52 years old, and well on his way to looking like Alec Guinness. Ewan McGregor is now 49, so he's just about aged into the role, assuming that the information we have on Andor is correct.

As for the story itself, it's unclear how Obi-Wan might fit in. Generally speaking, his life in between Episode III and IV has been depicted as a quiet one, spent watching over Luke from a distance and working up a reputation as an old kook.

Still, the Force has a habit of bringing people together. Maybe Andor will see Cassian making a pit stop at Tatooine's beloved hive of scum and villainy. Maybe he'll meet up with Obi-Wan, swap war stories, and buy the disgraced Jedi a drink or two. Maybe someone will get their arm cut off, as tends to happen when two or more recognizable characters from the Star Wars saga occupy the same room for more than four minutes.

Or, again, maybe it's not really happening. It's all still very much unconfirmed.