Star Wars: Kumail Nanjiani Reveals How Working on Obi-Wan Kenobi Compared to Eternals

Kumail Nanjiani made waves with his incredible body transformation for Marvel Studios’ film based on The Eternals. The actor was known for us very regular look and then he turned into an Adonis for his superhero role. Since then, Nanjiani has landed a role in another Disney project with the upcoming Star Wars limited series based on Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two franchises are fairly different, so you’d assume that the production process would be equally different and you’d be right. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor detailed what was different between working on a Star Wars project compared to Marvel Studios.

“I think with Star Wars, the difference was… Obviously working on Eternals, it’s the MCU. Everyone’s such a fan of the MCU, but we are sort of working with new characters, right? The people don’t really know these characters and don’t really know this part of the MCU,” Nanjiani revealed. “So it’s a new universe that’s being created as you’re going. With Star Wars, you’re really stepping into something that has been established for a very long time. It still is the same visual language, people know these characters. So, to me, the thing that sets Star Wars apart from really any other job I’ve done is how the entire crew was a massive fan of Star Wars. Every day, people would wear Star Wars clothes, T-shirts with Chewbacca on them. And just everyone was really, really every single day excited to be working on Star Wars. And I’ve never done a job where every single day you could feel that everyone was grateful to be there.”

“I would go into work and they’d be like, ‘Oh, you know what we did yesterday? We did this. And then we did this, and then we did this.’ And everyone was just really excited to go to work every day. This is stuff that everybody’s loved since they can remember, and the fact that they get to work on it was not lost on this crew. So the joy of it for the crew really was unique and special.” The actor added.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is set to focus on the period in time after Revenge of the Sith where McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is watching over a young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine and will even feature an Obi-Wan and Darth Vader reunion. Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow recently compared the two’s relationship to a love story.

“For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing,” Chow revealed to Vanity Fair. “I felt like it was quite hard to not[include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series… What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”

Lucasfilm and Disney+ describe the series as follows: “During the reign of the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi embarks on a crucial mission. Kenobi must confront allies turned enemies and face the wrath of the Empire.” Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere May 27th, 2022 on Disney+. The series stars Ewan McGregor, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Sung Kang, Moses Ingram, Indira Varama, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Rupert Friend, Simone Kessell and Benny Sadfie. 

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