Ewan McGregor Drops Huge News About The Obi-Wan Kenobi Series
Disney+ will soon be flush with enough Marvel and Star Wars content to keep the sci-fi and superhero fandoms busy binging for years to come. While those fans are no doubt stoked to see what the Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios crews bring to tales fronting the likes of Clone Wars vet Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), and Marvel bad boy Loki (Tom Hiddelston), the return of a certain Force-wielding fan favorite from that galaxy far, far away is undoubtedly at the top of most must-see lists. That fan fave is none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, who's officially set to front an eponymous spin-off series on the streaming platform. And per Ewan McGregor's recent remarks to Eddie Izzard (via Twitter) during a recent online charity marathon, it seems no one is more excited for his return to the role than he is. "It'll just be great to [play Obi-Wan] again. I did my last one in 2003, and it's such a long time ago. The idea of doing it again is more exciting even than it was then, I think. I'm thrilled to get a chance to play him again."
McGregor's last appearance as Obi-Wan came in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the final film in George Lucas' infamously divisive prequel trilogy. Even as many Star Wars diehards agree that it was the best of his prequel flicks, it was still a fairly under-whelming affair, capping a trilogy that left a sour taste in the collective mouth of cinema's most fervent fandom. As it is, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series may prove a welcome do-over for both Lucasfilm and McGregor — whose work as Obi-Wan is widely regarded as one of the best parts of the prequels — and Star Wars fans cannot wait to see him in full Jedi mode again.
Ewan McGregor is apparently happy to have those green-screen days in the past as well
McGregor also revealed during that interview he'd be donning the robes of the Star Wars saga's most-beloved Jedi sooner than expected, telling Izzard the start of production for Obi-Wan Kenobi is right around the corner. "We start making it in the late Spring, and we're going to be shooting it here in L.A." McGregor continued by claiming part of his excitement in returning to the Star Wars realm is that Obi-Wan Kenobi will utilize the Stagecraft tech that has made The Mandalorian such a stylistic delight in its first two seasons. That obviously means he'll spend less time shooting on the chroma key screens he practically lived in front of while working on Lucas' prequel films. "It'll be interesting to do. Probably not so much blue screen and green screen, which I always find quite tedious to spend week after week in a blue environment or a green environment. But this should certainly be much more interesting for us," McGregor said.
Those who've been tracking progress on Obi-Wan Kenobi already know part of the "us" in that statement is McGregor's prequel co-star, Hayden Christensen, who shocked the Star Wars fandom when his return to the universe was announced in December. Given the series' post-Revenge of the Sith timeline (it's reportedly set 10 years later), it makes perfect sense Christensen's Anakin Skywalker-slash-Darth Vader would be in play, but we haven't a clue as to how he'll factor into the story, or what exactly Obi-Wan Kenobi himself will be up to, for that matter. But even with as little as we know, anticipation couldn't be higher for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the series really cannot get to Disney+ fast enough.