Ewan McGregor last swung a lightsaber seventeen years ago, in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. But it seems that Jedi training doesn’t fade quite so easily. McGregor reprises his most famous role in Obi-Wan Kenobi, which premieres this week on Disney Plus. The show will follow an older Obi-Wan in exile after Order 66, with him once again crossing paths with Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader.
McGregor was asked about what it was like coming back to Star Wars in an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. During this, he was quizzed about comments he’d made about pretending to use the Force in real life. McGregor began laughing, mimed the Force hand gesture, and said:
“I can’t help myself. In an airport where there are automatic doors I always do it for myself – but I also hope somebody sees me do it.”
We can’t wait to finally see Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s debut episode later this week. The show has been a very long time coming, with Lucasfilm’s first attempt canceled days before it was supposed to begin shooting. This was apparently down to script problems, with the core idea of Obi-Wan protecting Luke as a baby deemed too similar to The Mandalorian.
The show was then completely reformulated, which is when the headline-grabbing notion of featuring Darth Vader came to be. It remains to be seen whether Vader’s return will add to or detract from their reunion in A New Hope.
Whatever the case, there’s going to be a lot to discuss come Friday morning. Fingers crossed it lives up to the hype.
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney Plus on 27 May 2022.