Ewan McGregor is going from haute couture to light saber.
After portraying iconic fashion designer Halston in the recent Netflix series of the same name, the Scottish actor will play the lead in the next highly anticipated Star Wars streaming offshoot, “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
As opposed to the previous Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” McGregor is taking on a character whose mythology is a lot more established, and hence more of a target for the infamously critical Star Wars fandom.
Previously, Boba Fett was a minor side player in the film series saga, while Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi has a more developed backstory. The character appeared from the first film forward as an old Jedi master, played by Alec Guiness, then a younger version played by McGregor when the series ramped back up in the early 2000s prequels.
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McGregor and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy recently talked with Entertainment Weekly about the new series, and the challenges of tackling such a beloved role.
Once things got going, it seems the biggest stumbling block was that the early scripts, from original writer Hossein Amini, presented a much darker tone than Lucasfilm envisioned.
As Indiewire explained, so stark was the division that the production was delayed from August 2020 to January 2021 to give time to bring in new writers and develop a more uplifting vision.
“We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story,” Kennedy said. “It’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”
Her quote seems to make sense of the idea of a dark series extension, coming off the intense storyline of "Revenge of the Sith." Nevertheless, lighter ideas were then brought in by “Army of the Dead” writer Joby Harold and series director Deborah Chow.
“We inherited some of it,” said Chow of the original script, “but we did really make some significant changes and add a few different elements.”
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Modern fantasy film fanatics have shown a preference for dark, serious takes on the genre, and may be a little disappointed at this news. But they can definitely take heart that they’ll be seeing some other favorite characters in the series. Most excitingly, Darth Vader.
The legendary bad guy will jump off the big screen onto the streaming one for the first time. And he’ll be played by actor Hayden Christensen who will reprise his role as pre-Vader, Anakin Skywalker. Yup, there will be light saber battles!
McGregor further assuaged fans’ fears of any lack of dark depth. “Obi-Wan is lost,” he explained. “He’s a broken man after what happened with the Jedi order at the end of ‘Episode III,’ but also what happened with Anakin; that he lost him to the dark side. He feels an enormous amount of responsibility for that, and guilt.”
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” will premiere on Disney+ on March 25.
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