Oh Sith, yeah! Obi-Wan Kenobi is in the house!
If you’re like us — and millions of Star Wars fans around the galaxy — you have already consumed the first two episodes of Disney+‘s highly anticipated series centered on Ewan McGregor‘s Jedi Master extraordinaire from the franchise’s prequel films. They dropped Thursday, May 26th at midnight ET and, yeah, totally worth the late-night binge. As McGregor himself put it during our recent chat, “It feels different, but it’s still absolutely Star Wars.”
(Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.)
Notable not only for being the show that fills in huge blanks between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the big-budget project is also being heralded as the rematch of the century since Hayden Christensen is set to reprise his role as Obi-Wan’s corrupted Padawan, Darth Vader. Obviously, the details of pretty much everything about the story were under wraps, but we did get some insight about the making of the show from the star, including his return to Jedi training camp.
“We started filming in April, and I started training in January,” McGregor recounts, adding that a lot goes into nailing the physicality of fighting the Dark Side. “There’s some really good action in this and I wanted to give myself the best chance at it, you know? To make the takes as good as they can be.” And how was it, getting his hands on Kenobi’s classic lightsaber? “It felt good, I have to say. It felt good.”
(Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.)
In addition to McGregor, we also stole some time with his costar Moses Ingram, who shared her take on her total badass character, Third Sister Reva. “She is dangerous,” she says of the Jedi-hunting Inquisitor. “She plays the offense and is always ten steps ahead.” That determination (as well as some sort of vendetta against Kenobi, it seems from the early episodes) is sure to cause trouble for her down the road, especially once Vader finally makes his appearance. But for Chow, having Christensen on hand as the iconic villain was far, far away from frightening.
“I think it was pretty special,” she says. “I don’t think anybody on the crew didn’t have a moment when we saw Vader for the first time [on set]. He’s twice my size…it’s intense.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi, New Episodes, Wednesdays, Disney+