Before Star Wars fans got a chance to freak out about the big Boba Fett reveal on The Mandalorian they were abuzz about a potential shooting location for another Star Wars show on Disney+. More specifically, a lot of people got to make some jokes about Boston accents because of a website that appeared to reveal Boston, Massachusetts as a shooting location for the Obi-Wan Kenobi show.
That news garnered a lot of laughs on social media, but there was always something a bit off about that news despite it being widely reported. As a local Boston journalist noted on Friday, that news didn’t seem to line up for a number of reasons, starting with the other filming location noted: London. As it turns out, there’s a Boston in the UK that’s nearby, which may be a much more likely location to recreate a galaxy far, far away.
So I know we’ve all seen that Wbz story but one of my best sources on sets thinks this is actually meant to be boston, Lincolnshire, England… not Massachusetts. Not confirmed, but Woulda be nice to see Ewan stroll Wollaston Beach pic.twitter.com/wF4jj90BJs
— Megan Johnson (@megansarahj) December 4, 2020
And the news outlet that helped the story go viral earlier in the week reported the same thing on Saturday — they got the wrong Boston listed on the website the information came from. So Star Wars isn’t coming to that Boston: the show will be filmed entirely in the UK.
A posting by the Film & Television Industry Alliance on productionlist.com said on Thursday that the new series “Star Wars: Kenobi” was set to shoot in London, England and Boston, Massachusetts on Jan. 4, 2021.
Someone at the website appears to have made an error. After the story became an online hit, the location was changed to Boston, England, United Kingdom and London.
That Boston is about 100 miles north of London.
WBZ Boston also posted a screengrab of the updated website which, indeed, does list Boston, England along with London. It’s unfortunate news for those that hoped the Boston accent could further engrain itself in the Star Wars canon — though if you watched the last episode of The Mandalorian you know all hope is not entirely lost in that regard.
Still, you can’t make something go un-viral. Which is why the Boston, MA version of the Star Wars: Kenobi show already has a Cheers-influenced theme song thanks to Stephen Colbert.
Kenobi is filming in Boston next month. We have an exclusive preview of the opening credits. #StarWars pic.twitter.com/xEDWzf9no4
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) December 5, 2020
Perhaps those in the UK can react to this news with some very good jokes about their Boston, but I wouldn’t hold out hope. It seems like yet another piece of misinformation in a year of fake news. At least we’ll always have this also-fictional theme song to remember it by.