Joel Edgerton Credits George Lucas, Star Wars With His Career

Before he appeared in films like Zero Dark Thirty, Bright, and countless other titles, actor Joel Edgerton had a small appearance in a little franchise called Star Wars. Taking on the role of a younger Owen Lars, Luke Skywalker’s uncle, in both Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Edgerton has joked that his character wasn’t the most exciting but also credits it with a big part of his career. Speaking in a new interview, The Gift star and director had praise for the creator of the series and the director of those films, George Lucas.

“I owe so much in my career to George [Lucas, Star Wars’ creator] giving me that job: it opened all the doors to Hollywood,” Edgerton told NME. “It allowed everyone in L.A. to kind of welcome me and go, ‘Oh, he’s in Star Wars. Let’s give him an audition for other things’. So I put aside any of my reticence [about returning] and I saw it as a way to complete a circle of some kind.”  

After appearing in the two Star Wars movies, Edgerton would go on to land lead roles in 2004’s King Arthur, 2005’s Kinky Boots, and 2006’s Smokin’ Aces. The 2010s were especially big for his career though, starting with Zero Dark Thirty and also including The Great Gatsby, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Black Mass, The Gift, Midnight Special, Loving, and Boy Erased. .

As Star Wars fans know, Edgerton returned to the franchise nearly twenty years later with the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. In the same interview, the actor admitted to being “reticent” about a potential return. “I’ve always joked that Uncle Owen is the most boring character in Star Wars history because he’s a moisture farmer and he doesn’t get to wield a lightsaber. And I’m always cheeky about the way I talk about Uncle Owen!” Edgerton added “Everybody thinks that Uncle Owen is a grumbly, cantankerous ‘say no’ dude. I was like, ‘This is my opportunity to put a bit more context on that, and have people maybe like him a little bit more’. And I think we did that.”

It’s unclear if Edgerton will have the opportunity to play Lars once again, but the potential for more season of Obi-Wan Kenobi or even another chapter in that era of Star Wars is never out of the question.