Kumail Nanjiani Finally Shares Details About His Obi-Wan Kenobi Character
"Obi-Wan Kenobi" will bring fans back to the glory days of the prequel trilogy, showing what exactly the titular Jedi has been up to ever since the Jedi Order fell, and he had to go on the run on Tatooine. Apparently, it wasn't all quiet, as the trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series revealed. While Obi-Wan (Ewan MacGregor) kept an eye on young Luke Skywalker from a distance, he also went on the run from the Empire, which will seemingly dispatch plenty of Inquisitors to bring him into custody.
However, while fans are undoubtedly excited to see a familiar face return to a galaxy far, far away, there will also be new characters to help populate this world. One such new face is a mysterious character played by Kumail Nanjiani. He's been busy in franchise fare for a while now, recently appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Kingo in "The Eternals." While not much has been known about his "Star Wars" character up until this point, the actor recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly on its "Star Wars" podcast, "Dagobah Dispatch," to provide some details about the newest figure to enter the "Star Wars" mythos.
Kumail Nanjiani plays a 'con-man'
Aside from a quick glimpse in the trailer, there's not much to glean about Nanjiani's character from much of the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" marketing materials. But when the actor spoke to the podcast, he finally let the cat out of the bag regarding his character. First and foremost, he revealed his name: "His name is Haja." He goes on to explain, "He's this guy who works on the streets of Daiyu, which is this new 'Star Wars' location that we haven't seen before that's absolutely gorgeous. And he's the guy who's worked really hard to stay out of the bigger conflicts at play. He just kind of wants to be his own guy. Survival for him is all that matters."
The question then becomes whether Haja will be a force for good or evil, and it sounds like it will be a mixture of the two. "He's this sort of con-man guy who cons people for money," states Nanjiani. "That's what's important to him. And then he has a run-in with Obi-Wan, and suddenly, he sort of gets stuck in the bigger conflicts at play, which is the thing that he really tries to avoid. So he is this street-level con-man guy who then gets embroiled in stuff that's way too big for him. And he has to make a choice." "Star Wars" has been more willing to play with shades of gray in the franchise, particularly when it came to "The Last Jedi," and it sounds as though Haja will carry on that trend.
Later in the interview, Nanjiani mentions how he'd love to play this character again, so it sounds like fans have another intriguing addition to the "Star Wars" mythos to witness when "Obi-Wan Kenobi" debuts on May 27 on Disney+.