You’d have thought that Ewan McGregor’s return in upcoming series Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been a simple enough task, one that required the actor to do little more than throw on the iconic Jedi robes that still fitted him like a glove.
Obviously, there would have been plenty of rigorous combat training for the star to get to grips with wielding a lightsaber for the first time in close to two decades, but it turns out that the Scotsman took his preparations very seriously indeed, which is understandable when the show is coming burdened with massive pressure.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, McGregor admitted that he revisited the prequels for the first time since he made them, but also made a point of expanding his sci-fi horizons outside of a galaxy far, far away.
“I watched them from start to finish. All nine movies. Just to get back in that world. It was interesting to watch our films because I hadn’t seen them since they came out, not at all. So it was cool to see and interesting to watch them and enjoy them without all of the noise that was around when they came out. Iain M. Banks is a Scottish writer, and I started reading his science-fiction novels.
I kind of didn’t do it the first [time]. I did absolutely study Alec Guinness and watched the original three Star Wars films when we did the first one, but I didn’t really think about the genre. And it’s not something I would normally do, but this time I did. I got jazzed about being back in space because I really love it as a movie watcher.”
The first trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi sent the internet into a state of total meltdown, so McGregor will be fully aware the blockbuster Disney Plus event needs to deliver on its promise and then some, which we’re feeling confident that it’ll do.