It’s been more than 15 years since George Lucas released “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” the final film in his Prequel Trilogy and the most recent feature to showcase Ewan McGregor in a major role as Obi-Wan Kenobi. But soon enough, Disney+ is going to change that by giving McGregor his own event series, aptly titled “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which will take place years after ‘Sith,’ and the actor is more excited about this project than he was working with Lucas on the films.
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Speaking to THR, McGregor opened up a little bit about the upcoming Disney+ streaming series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Not much is known about the exact plot of the series, other than it takes place a decade after ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and tells a previously unknown story about Obi-Wan’s adventures before ‘A New Hope.’ The six-episode series is written by Hossein Amini (“Drive”) and directed by Deborah Chow (“The Mandalorian”). But even though he can’t talk about the plot, McGregor is quick to explain why he’s more hyped about “Obi-Wan Kenobi” at this point in his career than he was doing the Prequel Trilogy.
“I’m really excited about it,” he said. “Maybe more so than the first ones, because I’m older — I just turned 50 — and I’m just in a much better place.”
Another thing that the 15 years between projects have allowed for is a huge leap forward in technology. While McGregor has talked a fair share about the issues with the Prequel films previously, when it comes to the technology that was used back then, with Lucas relying so heavily on green screen technology, the actor admits the filming wasn’t all that fun.
“After three or four months of that, it just gets really tedious — especially when the scenes are … I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare,” McGregor admitted. “There’s not something to dig into in the dialogue that can satisfy you when there’s no environment there. It was quite hard to do.”
But now, as has been discussed heavily with the production of “The Mandalorian,” Lucasfilm has been utilizing StageCraft, a technology that finds the actors put in a room that is surrounded by massive LED screens, where the alien backgrounds and locations can be added in real-time. This allows for an immersive feel that McGregor thinks adds to much to the production.
“So if you’re in a desert, you’re standing in the middle of a desert,” said McGregor about the new technology. “If you’re in the snow, you’re surrounded by snow. And if you’re in a cockpit of a starfighter, you’re in space. It’s going to feel so much more real.”
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With the star-studded cast of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” announced already, people are excited to see how might show up in the series. If “The Mandalorian” has proven anything, however, it’s that there are going to be plenty of surprises in store. Perhaps even with a young Luke Skywalker?
“That’s very possible,” McGregor teased. “I don’t know.”
Let’s be completely real for a second. If “Obi-Wan Kenobi” airs its final episode and there is not one shot of young Luke Skywalker, that will be completely shocking. I’m not a betting man, but I’d probably wager my house on the idea that 10-year-old Luke will be seen in some capacity. Disney isn’t going to let that opportunity pass them by.
An official release date for “Obi-Wan Kenobi” has yet to be revealed, but all signs point to the series showing up on Disney+ in 2022.