RETURN OF THE JEDI
SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER THE STAR WARS PREQUELS ENDED, OBI-WAN KENOBI IS BACK. WE SPEAK TO EWAN MCGREGOR ABOUT HIS EPIC JOURNEY WITH THE CHARACTER — AND REINVENTING HIM FOR A NEW AGE
WORDS BEN TRAVIS
Alamy
OBI-WAN KENOBI
27 MAY DISNEY+
KENOBI WAS DONE. “It’s over, Anakin!” he roared. With Obi-Wan having claimed the high ground against his former apprentice on the lava lakes of Mustafar in Revenge Of The Sith, Ewan McGregor’s time as the humble Jedi was supposed to be finished. But in Star Wars, no-one’s ever really gone.
Back in 1999, a fresh-faced McGregor entered the galaxy far, far away as a young Kenobi in The Phantom Menace, continuing his story through 2002’s Attack Of The Clones, and 2005’s Revenge Of The Sith.
For the actor, his stint in the prequels didn’t just elevate him to A-list status and allow him to channel the iconic Alec Guinness, who played Obi-Wan in the original trilogy — it brought him into a cinematic world he’d loved since he was six years old, a dream that somewhat soured when the prequels’ reception verged on the dark side. Still, the trilogy raked in galaxy-sized box-office, and had completed the backstory. Or so he thought.
Clockwise from left: Down but not out — Ewan McGregor returns as the titular Jedi Master; Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) emerges from his meditation chamber in the new show; Inquisitors Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) and Reva (Moses Ingram).
Now, 17 years on, McGregor returns in Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, stepping back into the Jedi robes a little older, wiser, and with a touch more grey in that familiar beard. Set a decade after the fateful, lava-strewn duel that turned a burning Anakin (Hayden Christensen) into Darth Vader, the series finds Obi-Wan hiding out on Tatooine, watching over the young Luke Skywalker and avoiding detection from the Empire. There will be lightsabers.