Star Wars: Ewan McGregor Details the Difficulties of Keeping His Obi-Wan Return a Secret

Since the Star Wars prequel trilogy concluded with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in 2005, fans have been hoping Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor would reprise his role, leading to this year's announcement that he would be getting his own Disney+ series, with the actor revealing he had to lie about this news for years. Due in large part to how much fans loved his character, he has been asked about returning to the franchise for more than a decade, with Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 initiating talks between him and the studio, forcing him to lie during interviews about his potential return.

"It just got difficult, I was brought up to tell the truth and I was in a situation where I wasn't really allowed to," McGregor shared with Jimmy Kimmel Live. "The studios, and the big franchises, rightly so, want to keep everything very secret and as closed as it can be. But, at the same time, there's this overwhelming amount of speculation online and on social media and what have you, and wherever I went for the last 15 years, people would ask me, 'So, would you do it again?'"

The purchase of Lucasfilm resulted in Disney confirming they would develop new films in the Skywalker Saga, in addition to spinoff films. When fans learned that spinoff films were a possibility, speculation about McGregor's return got more passionate.

"Once they started doing spinoffs, of course, everyone was like, 'Are you gonna do an Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff?' and I was talking to Lucasfilm and Disney about that but I couldn't say that I was," the actor pointed out. "So I'd have to go, 'Ya know, if they wanted to do one, I'd be quite interested in doing it.' It started to look a bit like I was just trying to get the part."

McGregor had to deflect the truth so regularly, he pointed out it took an emotional toll on him when fans would suggest other actors take on the role.

"It sort of hurt me inside and started to hurt my pride because people actually thought they're considering someone else, looking for someone else to play that part," McGregor confessed.

When Kimmel pointed out that he would go back and look at old interviews to see how convincing the actor was when deflecting questions with half-truths, McGregor joked, "Well hopefully I'm quite good at it, because it's my job."

The actor also noted he would be filming another movie before production would begin on the Obi-Wan series.

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