Ewan McGregor Is Preparing for Obi-Wan Series by Watching Star Wars: The Mandalorian

The Force is strong with Ewan McGregor: the Obi-Wan Kenobi actor says he's been watching The Mandalorian and recent Star Wars films ahead of his return to a galaxy far, far away in the upcoming Disney+ series. McGregor recently refuted reports the untitled Obi-Wan series was indefinitely delayed, explaining Disney-owned Lucasfilm pushed the shooting start from August of this year to January 2021. Part of the push back, McGregor explained last week, was to spruce up scripts. The ensuing fervor is "bullsh-t," McGregor told press when promoting the DC Comics-inspired Birds of Prey, adding the production slide is not "nearly as dramatic as it sounds online."

"We've been talking about it for a long time. It was going to be a movie, and then we decided it would be a good idea to do it as a series, so we're going to do it as a series for Disney's streaming platform," McGregor said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "And we're shooting it next year."

Asked how he's preparing for the series, set some time after the events of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith but before creator George Lucas' original Star Wars, McGregor said he watched the Jon Favreau-created Mandalorian.

"I liked it. I really liked it," McGregor said. "And I'm just trying to keep abreast of all the new Star Wars films that come out. And I'm excited about it. It's been a long time."

McGregor last stepped into the Jedi robes for Sith in 2005, only briefly reprising the character in voice-only cameos in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.

When host Jimmy Fallon joked about the involvement of "Baby Kenobi" — referencing The Mandalorian's "The Child," colloquially known as Baby Yoda — McGregor quipped, "You saw The Irishman. They can de-age me down to being baby-sized. Little beard, little lightsaber."

McGregor earlier told press reports of "creative differences" behind the scenes were "not true."

"The scripts are really good. I saw 90% of the writing and I really liked it," McGregor said during a Hollywood event for Birds of Prey, where he stars as villain Black Mask. "All this bulls— about creative differences and all that stuff, none of it is true. We just pushed the dates ... last episode, [Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker] came out, everyone had more time to read the stuff that had been written, and they felt that they wanted to do more work on it."

A release date for the Obi-Wan series has not been revealed. The second season of The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ this fall.