The Star Wars universe continues to expand, but can the same be said for Ewan McGregor's time playing Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi? While the role of Obi-Wan could have easily been recast, millennials will be pleased to know Ewan McGregor is back to pick up where he left off in the new Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, ahead of the premiere, Ewan McGregor has shared whether or not he will continue to stick around the Star Wars universe.
The last time we saw Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan was 17 years ago when he battled his former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, on Mustafar after Anakin led the assault on the Jedi Temple in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Once Obi-Wan left Anakin to die only to be rescued and transformed into Darth Vader, he delivered one of his two children, Luke, to his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. Obi-Wan has watched over Luke ever since. McGregor weighed in on his potential future in the galaxy far, far away to Total Film magazine (via CBR), saying:
If we were to get an opportunity to do it again, I'd be totally up for that. Here I go again. It's like me knocking at Disney's door again!
When Ewan McGregor played Obi-Wan for the first time as a young apprentice in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, he needed inspiration to draw on to play the iconic character. Who better to be influenced by than the actor who originated the role, Alec Guinness? He said about reprising the role in the post-prequel trilogy era:
It was nice to come back and to bridge that gap between me and Alec Guinness. I got as much, or more, out of playing him this time than I did in the first three movies put together. That's to do with the writing, and the people we were making the series with, and the technology, and how different everything is.
Seeing Obi-Wan this time around may feel more like the Alec Guinness version that we saw in the original trilogy series as opposed to Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan as of the end of Revenge of the Sith. Ewan McGregor has said that he felt he would be more excited about making Obi-Wan Kenobi compared to the Star Wars prequels. After all, the Disney+ series will not be relying so much on the CGI the way George Lucas did for his movies. In this technology-centric world that we live in, we will look forward to seeing more practical movie magic as the original movies gave us.
We can also expect “the rematch of a century” as Hayden Christensen will also return to the sci-fi miniseries. Both Christensen and McGregor have done their homework to ensure that they have all of the information they need from the Star Wars universe to accurately portray these characters again. Christensen’s great method of preparing was to binge-watch the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels to further explore the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. The chemistry the two stars had in the prequel series is bound to appear for Obi-Wan Kenobi even if the two characters are now enemies.
Let’s cross our fingers that the Star Wars universe will continue to use Ewan McGregor as our favorite Jedi master. With the Star Wars universe not stopping anytime soon, I’d say there’s a good chance. You can watch the six-episode miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi on your Disney+ subscription with the first two episodes premiering on May 27.
