When it comes to his time in the Star Wars universe, Ewan McGregor has conflicting feelings. During a recent interview with Variety, McGregor got candid about his time playing the iconic Obi-Wan Kenobi, which started back in 1999 with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
At the time, McGregor wasn’t the widely known actor he is now, but he was happy with his spot in the indie film world. That caused him to be “very reluctant” about tackling the role.
The actor reveals his feelings about the project back then, saying, “It wasn’t a done deal for me. I didn’t think it was at all who I was. I believed, at that point, I was a Danny Boyle actor. The Beach was more important, and I meant it; it wasn’t flippant. I did ask a lot of people for advice.”
He adds that the reception of the films was hard to handle: “I am happy that I am this character for a lot of people, but when these films came out, they were so disliked. That was hard. The first one was panned, and we still had to make another two! It was weird to be in a film that was hammered.”
But McGregor enjoyed his time enough to return as Obi-Wan for the Disney+ series, which seemed to be a much better experience for the actor. He tells the outlet, “I would love to do the second season, but there’s no talk of it yet. There is a lot going on at Disney.”
All six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are streaming on Disney+.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi features a cast that includes Ewan McGregor (Ben Kenobi), Hayden Christensen (Darth Vader), Joel Edgerton (Owen Lars), Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa), Bonnie Piesse (Beru Lars), Moses Ingram (Reva Sevander), Rupert Friend (The Grand Inquisitor), Sung Kang (The Fifth Brother), Benny Safdie (Nari), Simone Kessell (Breha Organa), Kumail Nanjiana (Haja Estree), Rya Kihlstedt (The Fourth Sister), Flea (Vect Nokru), Vivien Lyra Blair (Leia Organa), Indira Varma (Tala), Grant Feely (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Roken), and Temuera Morrison (Clone Trooper).
