Ewan McGregor Says Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi “Will Not Disappoint” at Emmys

Ewan McGregor says Star Wars spin-off Obi-Wan Kenobi “will not disappoint” after accepting his first Primetime Emmy award during Sunday’s ceremony. The Obi-Wan actor, a winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Halston, teased the making of the live-action Star Wars series by calling it a “different experience” from the George Lucas-directed film trilogy. Obi-Wan reunites McGregor with his two-time Star Wars prequels co-star Hayden Christensen, who reprises his role as Darth Vader for a lightsaber-swinging rematch of the century when the spin-off premieres 2022 on Disney+. 

“We finished shooting our series, and it was really, really good fun. I really enjoyed working with [director-executive producer] Deborah Chow, and I think it will not disappoint,” McGregor said of Obi-Wan backstage at the 2021 Emmys (via Deadline). “The new technology that we employed doing it is cool, and it was a different experience than making the original three films that I did.” 

McGregor portrayed Obi-Wan, a Jedi Knight and later Jedi Master, in prequels The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The new series from Disney and Lucasfilm marks McGregor’s first time reprising the role on screen since 2005. 

The series, helmed by The Mandalorian director Chow, takes place a decade after Revenge of the Sith. The prequel trilogy finale ends with Obi-Wan, having defeated his former friend and padawan in a fiery fight on Mustafar, going into exile on Tatooine to protect Luke Skywalker — one of the newborn twins of fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker. 

“He has this one task left, which is to keep Luke safe,” McGregor said when revealing first details during Disney Investor Day 2020. Hounded by Jedi Hunters, Obi-Wan goes on a “rollicking adventure” across the galaxy far, far away before having what Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy called the “rematch of the century” with Darth Vader. 

“We couldn’t tell the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi without addressing Anakin or Vader,” Chow said in a sizzle reel screened at Investor Day, teasing audiences will “definitely see Obi-Wan and Darth Vader get into it again.”

Added McGregor in the first-look sizzle, “The most beautiful thing of all is that it’s brought me back together with Hayden. It’ll be amazing to bring those characters back together again, very unexpectedly.”

Also starring Kumail Nanjiani, Sung Kang, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Moses Ingram, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, Simone Kessell, Benny Safdie, and Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, who reprise their Revenge of the Sith roles as Owen and Beru Lars, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres 2022 on Disney+. 

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