Ewan McGregor on Playing Obi-Wan More Like Star Wars’ Alec Guinness

It seems like Ewan McGregor‘s last appearance as Obi-Wan in a Star Wars title was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Finally, the actor was able to confirm he will be reprising the role for a Disney+ series centered around his character. While it will still be a while before fans see him in the role as production is not slated to begin on the Obi-Wan series until next summer but McGregor has a good idea of what to expect from the series. As Obi-Wan gets older, he will be able to lean into a bit of what fans saw in the original Star Wars trilogy.

“What’s exciting for me to play him now is that I’m that much closer… The most exciting thing before was trying to play a younger Alec Guinness,” McGregor told ComicBook.com on Monday. “To study Alec Guinness’ work and his performance in Star Wars and then try and feel like I was the younger version of him. That and the sword fights were pretty good fun to learn, as well. This time, I’m just going to be that much closer to him in age and it will be interesting to do that. The story takes place, you know when the story takes place. So, it’s quite interesting.”

There is plenty of Star Wars content coming in the mean time as Episode IX hits theaters in December and The Mandalorian drops on Disney+ on November 12. While the Obi-Wan series still feels like it is light years away, fans of McGregor can look forward to seeing him in Doctor Sleep which got some overwhelmingly positive reactions following early screenings.

While Doctor Sleep is being dubbed a continuation of the story laid out in The Shining, McGregor had to portray a character who was not a fan of the iconic horror film as many of us (including McGregor) are despite taking part in several recreations or homages to the original. “There’s moments where you become aware that the filmmakers are recreating a shot or homage, if you like, in that moment,” McGregor said. “I don’t want to start trying to recreate what Jack [Nicholson] did for the audience because I’m not playing Jack [Torrence]. I had to walk the line between knowing what was happening, the homage, and the reality of it. I had to trick myself out of it.”

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series does not yet have a release date. McGregor’s Doctor Sleep hits theaters on November 8.