Star Wars: Kumail Nanjiani Addresses His Possible Franchise Future After Obi-Wan Kenobi

For some Star Wars projects, it’s clear that audiences will be meeting new characters that will go on to have long legacies in the franchise, while other figures are introduced merely for an isolated outing. In the case of Kumail Nanjiani’s Haja and his debut in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, the actor hopes that this isn’t the only time he’ll get to bring the character to life, not only because that would mean more opportunities to venture to a galaxy far, far away, but also because he feels it’s a character that adds a lot of complexity to the beloved franchise. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts on Disney+ on May 27th.

“It’s all I’ve thought about. I don’t know what that does, but yeah, I would love to play this character again,” Nanjiani shared with Entertainment Weekly about his character’s future. “Not just because of Star Wars, but it’s a really, really, really fun character to play. I’ve never gotten to play a character like this before. I think it’s a type of character that we haven’t exactly seen in Star Wars either — with a con man, you know?”

He continued, “He can talk people into stuff, so that’s a really fun character to play. And I actually did a lot of research online on con men, and on magicians, too. Because magicians, let’s face it, they’re kind of like a con man, right? They’re tricking people. So I really looked up a lot of stuff about that to learn how to really play a character like this. And I love this character so much. It would be genuinely a dream come true to play him again. Can we get [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy on here?”

After making a brief appearance in a trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi, Nanjiani also shared details about his new character.

“His name is Haja,” the actor revealed. “And he’s this guy who works on the streets of Daiyu, which is this new Star Wars location that we haven’t seen before that’s absolutely gorgeous. And he’s the guy who’s worked really hard to stay out of the bigger conflicts at play. He just kind of wants to be his own guy. Survival for him is all that matters.”  

He added, “He’s this sort of con-man guy who cons people for money. That’s what’s important to him. And then he has a run-in with Obi-Wan and suddenly he sort of gets stuck in the bigger conflicts at play, which is the thing that he really tries to avoid. So he is this street-level con-man guy who then gets embroiled in stuff that’s way too big for him. And he has to make a choice.”

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

Are you looking forward to meeting the new character? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!