Ewan McGregor Breaks Silence on Liam Neeson’s Obi-Wan Kenobi Surprise

While Lucasfilm’s next Star Wars project, Andor, is right around the corner, fans are still wrapping their heads around the last one. Obi-Wan Kenobi featured the return of Ewan McGregor, one of the fanbase’s favorite actors in the entire franchise. After over a decade, audiences were able to get six new television episodes featuring the iconic Jedi.

To make it all even better, the series also featured Hayden Christensen returning to his role of Anakin Skywalker—or more accurately, Darth Vader. Seeing those two actors interact once again was all but a religious experience for many.

Then, to top it all off, there was another massive return before the show was said and done: Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn, the former Master of Obi-Wan himself. The character hasn’t been seen in live-action since The Phantom Menace, so his brief return was a big deal, to say the least.

At a recent convention, Ewan McGregor appeared and finally broke his silence regarding the return of his former co-star.

McGregor Breaks Silence on his Former Master

As reported by Comicbook.com, Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor appeared at Fan Expo in Boston, where he talked about Liam Neeson’s return as Qui-Gon Jin in the final minutes of his show’s first season.

McGregor noted how “Liam [Neeson] is a hero of [his],” and that he was “always watching [Neeson’s] work” while he was growing up:

“Liam is a hero of mine… Liam has got to be, I don’t know, ten years, maybe a bit more, older than I. So when I was growing up and wanting to be an actor, I was always watching Liam Neeson’s work, and he was involved in some beautiful work as a younger actor. And so to get the chance to work with him and to have this great relationship that we got to create together is fantastic, and to get the chance to work with himself again on the series right at the end.”

Previously when talking about his return, Neeson shared how part of why he came back was so that he could “show [his] respect for George [Lucas]:”

“I certainly didn’t want anyone else playing Qui-Gon Jinn, and I wanted to show my respect for George [Lucas] and that mythical world that he created. Plus, Ewan [McGregor] is a pal, and I loved working with him during The Phantom Menace 25 years ago.”

The Return of Liam Neeson

While the return of Qui-Gon was definitely something many fans felt needed to happen, it was still a relief to many to actually see the cameo play out. Though with that said, many hoped for a little bit more than the awkward moment given to audiences.

At least, since it happened, the live-action story was finally able to explain when Kenobi may have started to train in the ways of becoming a force ghost. If a Season 2 ever does happen, hopefully, Disney can convince Neeson to come back and film more scenes as he helps train the legendary Jedi.

While another season of Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed a given while it was airing, there has since been no word on if the project will actually happen. Maybe the upcoming D23 convention will have some news to share in that regard. After all, if Ewan McGregor is up for it, it’s hard to see why Lucasfilm wouldn’t be as well. 

All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+.