Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi" -- now that's a name casual "Star Wars" fans haven't heard in a long time. The Jedi master gets his own moment in the suns with a new six-part Disney+ series starring Ewan McGregor.
It's set halfway between George Lucas' two trilogies: 10 years after "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," which marked McGregor's last appearance as the character, and nine years before the late Alec Guinness made his hooded, howling entrance as Ben Kenobi in "Episode IV: A New Hope."
McGregor said he always kept the venerated Guinness in mind during production. He listened to Guinness' dialogue on a sound file in his dressing room and took more time after scenes were filmed "just to do a little extra Alec Guinness-y take -- just to make sure.
"It's got to feel like him. I studied him in that movie," the 51-year-old actor said. "I've always got to be somebody who ends up becoming Alec Guinness at the end of the day."
A Kenobi project featuring McGregor has been in development for years, originally as a film with Stephen Daldry attached to direct. That was tossed in the scrap heap after the relatively meagre box office returns of 2018's "Solo: A Star Wars Story." With the launch of Disney+ the next year, Lucasfilm pinned its hopes on a streaming series. (Kenobi was also featured in the animated series "The Clone Wars," which ran for seven seasons and is now on Disney+.)
Filming took place last year primarily on Industrial Light & Magic's technologically innovative Los Angeles-area soundstages, where massive LED screens create virtual worlds that surround performers.
As with the hit "The Mandalorian," also filmed there, producers have kept most details cloaked in secrecy. But here's what to look for as the first two episodes premiere Friday:
"I will take the child and watch over him." That was Kenobi's plan for Luke Skywalker at the conclusion of 2005's "Revenge of the Sith." Luke and Leia's mother died just after their birth, and Jimmy Smits' regal Bail Organa adopted Leia. Kenobi brought Luke to live with family on Tatooine, and that's where the new series begins. Trailers show Kenobi on the desert planet with binoculars, 10-year-old Skywalker in sight. The kid seems alright -- for now. But be ready to pack up that starfighter. The series introduces a new planet to the galaxy: Daiyu, with a glowing urban Hong Kong-like setting perfect for rooftop blaster shootouts.
"You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!" Kenobi ended "Episode III" failing to sway his padawan away from the dark side -- then slicing off Anakin's limbs and leaving him in flames. He's torn with anguish and regret, even before he knows Anakin became Darth Vader. But "Episode IV" finds Kenobi chill, in control, Zen. That mindset shift is key to "Kenobi," said director Deborah Chow: "How did he go from the banks of Mustafar to the calm of Sir Alec Guinness? Something obviously happened there, between those 20 years. So for us, in large part, that was why we felt we actually had a story to tell."
Trailers establish Jedi-hunting Inquisitors, played by Rupert Friend, Sung Kang and Moses Ingram, as the key antagonists. But don't forget Vader. Chow wanted to include the black-suited villain to up the stakes for Kenobi. "Emotionally, so much of the weight that he's carrying is coming primarily from what happened with Anakin. So everything kind of kept leading us back to that," she said.
A lightsaber duel rematch seems fated. It's unclear whose voice audiences will hear, but Hayden Christensen again dons the black helmet for the role. "That costume comes with such a presence," he said. "You put it on and it just informs so much the way you feel. And for me, it was very sort of cathartic in a way too just because this is a character that has meant a lot to me and has sort of stayed with me over the years -- and getting to come back and continue with it was an emotional experience."
Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse reprise their roles from the prequels as Owen and Beru Lars, Luke's aunt and uncle. Expect other established characters to make as-yet-unannounced appearances in either the main story or through flashbacks, used heavily in the other live action "Star Wars" series. Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano, starring in her own upcoming series, will almost certainly drop in. Could we see a "Force ghost" version of Kenobi's teacher Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson? A young Leia with Smits' Organa? Chewbacca or Darth Maul? They'll soon reveal themselves to viewers.
------
AP writer Cristina Jaleru in London contributed to this report
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.