Why did the Obi-Wan Kenobi release date really change?

This week, Disney+ and Lucasfilm announced that Obi-Wan Kenobi would release its first two episodes on Friday, May 27. This was an unexpected change from the original date, which was originally advertised as May 25.

Thus far, there hasn’t been official confirmation explaining why the highly-anticipated series suddenly changed release days. This has left many Star Wars fans wondering why the show is set to premiere two days later than originally planned.

Though not official reasons for the change, there are several potential explanations — one being Star Wars Celebration.

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim will take place from May 26-29, 2022. Originally, Obi-Wan Kenobi would have debuted the day before the event began on May 25. One potential reason for moving the release date could be that the Wednesday before Celebration will be a major travel day for the event’s attendees. It’s possible viewership on release day would have been lower as a result, although anyone flying that day could have downloaded the episode beforehand to watch offline on the plane..

It’s much more likely that Celebration will pair the premiere of the series with a panel during the event on Friday, May 27. This would encourage fans to watch both episodes before viewing the panel, which would ideally include behind-the-scenes info, conversations with those involved in the project, and more.

While some have speculated the change happened to avoid Star Wars conflicting with Marvel on Disney+, the show has confirmed that May 27 is the only Friday the show will drop new episodes. It will return to normal Wednesday releases the following week.

Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Ewan McGregor with appearances by Hayden Christensen and Kumail Nanjiani and is directed by Deborah Chow, who previously directed an episode of The Mandalorian. The series is set to premiere May 27, 2022 exclusively on Disney+.

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