After the massive ending of the Skywalker Saga during the events of The Rise of Skywalker , the future of the Star Wars franchise is wide open. While the movie branch of the franchise is under a brief hiatus, the small screen division under the Disney+ umbrella is poised to take center stage.
One of the huge and intriguing additions to the Star Wars realm is the Obi-Wan Kenobi live-action series. Ewan McGregor is set to reprise his role as the famed Jedi Master, and this will mark his fourth time to play the character after the prequel trilogy. Specific plot details have yet to be uncovered, but it has been confirmed that the show will follow the life of the Jedi Knight in Tatooine after the events of Revenge of the Sith .
As of this moment, Obi-Wan is still set to premiere sometime in 2022, but a previous interview from McGregor may have shed some light on the overall outlook of the show. McGregor revealed that Obi-Wan will only be a "standalone season" before sharing that filming for the show will commence during Spring of next year.
Now, another interview with the show's lead star has surfaced, and it provides more details about the much-anticipated show.
NEWS
While speaking with Empire Podcast , Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor expressed his delight over reprising the iconic role for the Disney+ show while also admitting that he's more "excited about doing this one than I was doing the second and third one that we did before:"
“I'm more excited about doing this one than I was doing the second and third one that we did before. I'm just excited about working with Deborah Chow [director, who also directed episodes of The Mandalorian ], and the storylines are going to be really good I think. I'm just excited to play him again. It's been long enough since I played him before.”
McGregor acknowledged that the prequel trilogy movies weren't "much liked when they came out," but the actor shared that he is "really aware" of what those films meant to the "children of that time." The Revenge of the Sith actor also mentioned that he "met people who, they mean a lot to them, those films, more so than the original three:"
“You know, our films weren't much liked when they came out, by my generation who loved the first ones. I think people of our generation wanted to feel the way they'd felt when they saw those first three movies when they were kids, and George [Lucas] wanted to take our ones in a different direction, he had a different idea. It was tricky at the time, I remember. But now, all these years later, I'm really aware of what our films meant to the generation they were made for, the children of that time. They really like them. I've met people who, they mean a lot to them, those films, more so than the original three, and I'm like, 'Are you kidding?'”
McGregor also spoke about the innovative technology that Obi-Wan will be using for production while recalling his experience while filming the prequel trilogy a decade ago:
“The first three [Star Wars films] I did were really at the very beginning of digital photography. We had a camera with an umbilical cord to a tent, it was like back to the beginning of movies where the camera didn't move very much because there was so much hardware attached to it. Now we're going to be able to really create stuff without swathes of green-screen and blue-screen, which becomes very tedious for the actor.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
McGregor's comments indicate that the fans are not the only ones who are excited for his triumphant return to the galaxy far, far away. McGregor last played Obi-Wan Kenobi during 2005's Revenge of the Sith , and it will be interesting to see how the actor will portray character this time around. This show provides an opportunity for McGregor to flesh out the character even more while also expanding some of the Jedi Master's history that has yet to be explored in live-action.
Obi-Wan will definitely take McGregor's character into new heights, and it will be interesting to see how all of this will play out. The fact that McGregor pointed out that he is more excited in playing the character for the Disney+ show than the prequel trilogy isn't surprising since it allows him to tap into the deep history of the Obi-Wan persona.
It's clear that McGregor is still aware of the admiration of many fans about his Star Wars films. While it's true that the prequels led to a divisive reaction among fans back then, it isn't surprising that there are still those who reevaluated their take about those films, ultimately leading them to find their own silver lining.
Production for the much-anticipated series will officially start next year, and McGregor's comments seem to hint that he will be up for the challenge of immersing himself in a virtual environment like The Volume. All things considered, Obi-Wan is shaping up to be an exciting entry in the live-action realm of the Star Wars franchise.
