Ewan McGregor has nothing but kind words for Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow.
In an interview with Collider, McGregor gave his impression of the series after watching every episode and shared what makes it so different from the previous Star Wars Disney Plus series:
“Yeah. They’re really strong. I’ve seen them all, and I really like them all. I’m pretty blown away by Deborah Chow, to be honest. I knew she was great from The Mandalorian, but you imagine tackling, directing every episode of this and with the weight of the fandom on your shoulders. She’s done an amazing job. Really an amazing job. And I can’t pick one. The beautiful thing about it is that, because we have Deborah as our director for all of them, it just felt like we were shooting a movie. If we’d had different directors for each episode, then it would’ve felt more episodic. Because Deb’s singular voice goes through them all, it did feel like just one long movie. And the episodes fall naturally within the story, but it is one driving narrative from start to finish. So therefore, there isn’t really a favorite episode.”
Chow directed The Mandalorian episodes “Chapter 3: The Sin” and “Chapter 7: The Reckoning” and received both critical and fan recognition for her stellar work. This showing then led to her helming the Obi-Wan Kenobi series as its showrunner.
Directing an entire series is no small feat. The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett had a revolving door of directors coming in and handling certain episodes, but Chow has the distinction of directing every Obi-Wan Kenobi episode. Because of this, McGregor believes that its continuity will be more cohesive than the episodic model, and could work in the series’ favor.
Kenobi is one of the most famous Star Wars characters of all time, which means there’s even more pressure on getting the story right. Having a consistent throughline for a character with so much history could make sure things remain tidy during a pivotal time for the character.
McGregor recently discussed what viewers can expect from Kenobi’s frosty relationship with Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton), Luke Skywalker’s parental figure on Tattoine. They won’t be seeing eye to eye regarding what’s best for the young legend, and more insight will be given to Owen to flesh out his motivations for keeping Luke’s destiny a secret from him.
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere on Disney Plus May 27.