Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor on Star Wars Prequel Reactions

Ewan McGregor first played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace in 1999 and went on to star in all three prequels. For the first time in 17 years, the actor will be taking on the role for a Disney+ limited series titled Obi-Wan Kenobi. In honor of the new series, McGregor has been reminiscing about his time in the franchise, and he’s starting to learn that there are a lot of people out there who love the prequels. During a recent press conference for Obi-Wan Kenobi, McGregor was asked about the prequels, and he talked about meeting adults who loved his Star Wars movies when they were kids.

“They were not seemingly well received,” McGregor explained. “There was no social media there was no direct avenue to the fans at the time. The fans were kids. When the first film came out [in 1977] … I was 6 or 7 when it came out. I’ll never forget that feeling and how my relationship with Star Wars, all those original first three films, that’s one of the crazy things about being in Star Wars at all … Once those kids who were my age when the prequels came grew up a bit and I was able to meet them, I started hearing that people really liked them and they started to understand why I thought people didn’t like them when they came out … It’s nice to be here.” 

Not only will Obi-Wan Kenobi feature the return of McGregor, but also Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader. Earlier this year, McGregor spoke to Forbes and teased flashback scenes between Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker.

“I think it’s no secret that Hayden Christensen comes back and we got to play scenes together again as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and it was just fantastic to work with him again,” McGregor shared. “I’m not going to give away anything else about the storyline, only I think it’s really going to satisfy Star Wars fans. I always felt there was a story between Episode III where I finished playing Obi-Wan in the movies and Episode IV where Alec Guinness is Obi-Wan Kenobi. The [Obi-Wan Kenobi series] writers and [director Deborah Chow] and I and everyone, I think we crafted or they crafted a very fine storyline. I think people are going to like it.”

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts on Disney+ on May 27th.