Ewan McGregor Reveals How He Pitched Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Star Wars Return To Disney

Ewan McGregor’s return to Star Wars was long awaited, and he recently revealed that he pitched the idea for the Obi-Wan Kenobi show to Disney himself. McGregor has been part of Star Wars for a huge part of his life, and he’s come to be almost synonymous with Obi-Wan’s character. As such, his return in Obi-Wan Kenobi was highly anticipated. Even though Obi-Wan Kenobi season 2 isn’t likely to happen, it seems McGregor was largely responsible for the show being made at all.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, McGregor talked about how he was surprised by the widespread desire from audiences to see him play Obi-Wan again. After being questioned about when he would make his return to Star Wars in numerous interviews, McGregor finally went directly to Disney to pitch an idea about how he could reprise his role.

“So in the end, I got in touch with somebody at Disney, and we sat down in an office, and she just said, ‘You’re saying that you would like to do it again, and all we want to know really is do you mean it?’ And I said, ‘I’m glad to have this opportunity to say, yes, I would love to do it again.’ And we were talking about a movie at that point, not a TV series, ’cause that hadn’t happened yet. ‘Disney Plus’ wasn’t there yet and stuff, so I said, ‘All I can see is him broken, like you know, some time after Episode III and he’s in a really dark place.”

While many viewers were hoping to see McGregor power up a lightsaber again, it seems he was eager to take on the role of Obi-Wan once more as well. Without his pitch, audiences might have had to wait much longer to see him as Obi-Wan again.

Ewan McGregor Hit Upon The Best Star Wars Story For Obi-Wan

McGregor’s choice of where to pick up on Obi-Wan’s story was exactly the right call. Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s setting in the Star Wars timeline allowed the show to pick up right where Revenge of the Sith left off and show how such a beloved character dealt with such tremendous grief. Picking up on him as a broken man, as McGregor suggested, fit his character perfectly. It also acted as a perfect bridge between McGregor’s younger, less experienced portrayal of Obi-Wan and Alec Guinness’ seasoned and wise take on the role.

Obi-Wan is such a well-rounded and well-developed character that trying to find a way to continue his story without adding to it unnecessarily was surely difficult. Luckily, McGregor and the rest of the creators of Obi-Wan Kenobi found exactly the right place to add their chapter to his tale. Obi-Wan Kenobi gave audiences a deeper look at the inner workings of Obi-Wan’s mind than ever before, and it also gave one of the franchise’s most tragic characters a rare chance to heal. Ewan McGregor is a huge part of why Obi-Wan Kenobi was such a good show, and why it happened in the first place.

Source: Vanity Fair