An Obi-Wan Kenobi project has been in the works for years ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, and always with Ewan McGregor eager to reprise the role. It never really got past the rumor stage, though, at least until it was made official for Disney+ earlier this year. While we might think that was a fairly recent decision on their part, McGregor says he's known about it for quite a long time and has been bursting at the seams to talk about it.
Speaking with Men's Journal, McGregor reveals quite a few details about the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and says he's been keeping mum about it for years...
It’s a fucking massive relief,” he said. “Because for four years, I’ve been having to lie to people about it.”
Note to self: never trust Ewan McGregor's denials about anything.
He says the series will consist of six, one-hour episodes will shooting to begin next summer.
"The storyline sits between ‘Episode III’ and ‘Episode IV'. The Jedi Order was falling apart. It will be interesting to take a character we know in a way and show him—Well, his arc will be quite interesting, I think, dealing with that the fact that all the Jedi were slaughtered with the end of ‘Episode III.’ It’s quite something to get over.”
Not only does Kenobi have to deal with the fall of the Jedi, but his own failures with Anakin Skywalker, his friend and apprentice who becomes Darth Vader. That kind of burden is enough to make anybody's hair turn grey, and McGregor talks a little about capturing the look and spirit of the late Alec Guinness, who played Kenobi in the original trilogy...
“I want to get closer and closer to how Obi-Wan felt while Alec Guinness was playing him. I feel like I’m grayer and nearer him in age, so it’ll be easier to do that."
We probably won't see Obi-Wan Kenobi until some time in 2021. Before that you can check out McGregor next month in Doctor Sleep, and in Birds of Prey next February.
