Man, just like us all here at FTN HQ, Ewan McGregor REALLY wants more Obi-Wan stories on the small – or big – screen.
While promoting his new movie, The End of Oak St, McGregor was asked about returning as the revered Jedi Knight and says that he’s keen to get going but as of now, there’s no movement (at Disney/Lucasfilm). The star discusses how his Obi-Wan series ended and how Kenobi realises that he can’t keep living next to the Lars family and has to let the young Luke grow and become who he was meant to be.
He says that the last time we see him before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, he’s riding into the desert with Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn (a Force ghost) and, like us all, he wants to know what happens from that point until we next see him in A New Hope, played by Alec Guinness: “I’m ready whenever they are,” he says, “I’ve got 10 years before I’m Alec Guinness’s age. So come on, Disney!”
McGregor is 55; Guinness was 62 when he first played Kenobi; his maths is a little off, but we get what he’s saying.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time recently that McGregor has made it clear he wants to play Obi-Wana again.
Just a few days ago, McGregor and End of Oaf Street co-star Anne Hathaway were talking about Star Wars and Hathaway jokingly pitched her joining that universe: “Amidala couldn’t have had another baby,” she says to McGregor, “So am I Anakin’s evil daughter [Luke and Leia’s half-sister]? That would be kind of cool… I kind of want to join you on your quest for Yoda, in this future quest of yours.”
Ewan McGregor says there’s talk of Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2 and he wants to go back to the Clone Wars
On listening, McGregor replies: “Well, now that you’ve said that, that might help us get it done because, to this point, nothing’s really moving on that front!”
To me, this implies that McGregor has been trying to get another season of the show made but so far, Disney and Lucasfilm have been reluctant.
Getting back to his first comments in this article, he also recently told Esquire Magazine: “Everything between the end of the TV series and Alec Guinness. There’s 10 years of something happening to Obi-Wan.”
There’s no getting away from the fact that Disney and Lucasfilm have made many mistakes and missteps with Star Wars in the last few years and Obi-Wan, while I loved a lot of it, was certainly far from perfect, that said, keeping McGregor as Kenobi was a smart move and perhaps, with the right writing team and story, bringing his back to the role might just be the adrenaline hit the fandom needs.
Obi-Wan Kenobi star Vivien Lyra Blair and director Deborah Chow discuss a second season
McGregor’s Kenobi is one of the franchise’s most universally loved aspects, giving him a story he deserves – that we all, as fans, deserve – could be the first step into a larger world. So to speak.
Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear them all.
The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series stars Ewan McGregor, reprising his role as the iconic Jedi Master, and also marks the return of Hayden Christensen in the role of Darth Vader.
Joining the cast are Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” is directed by Deborah Chow and executive-produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Deborah Chow, Ewan McGregor and Joby Harold
FTN BIG INTERVIEW: [watch] we chat to Game of Thrones and Obi-Wan Kenobi star Indira Varma
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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