It’s been a huge couple of years for Kumail Nanjiani, who landed a major superhero role when he was cast as Kingo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals, and got so jacked for the part that he was asked to take things a little easier in the gym.
On top of that, he was added to the stacked ensemble of Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi, which might just be the streaming service’s most hotly-anticipated original project ever. Not a bad turnaround for the actor and comedian, who’d previously appeared in back-to-back critical duds Dolittle and The Lovebirds in early 2020.
Star Wars has been so popular for so long that nearly every newcomer to the franchise is a lifelong fan, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Nanjiani revealed that it didn’t take an awful lot of convincing for him to sign on the dotted line and head off to a galaxy far, far away.
“My agents called me and it was the whole group of them that never call you. And I was like, ‘Okay, this is either amazing news or really awful news’. And they’re like, ‘They want you to play a part in Obi-Wan, and apparently, it’s substantial’. So then I talked to director Deborah Chow and we had a great conversation. And the character sounded awesome, I was so excited about this character. We haven’t seen this exact thing in Star Wars yet. This is like a new version of a type of Star Wars character we’ve seen before. And she was trying to sell me on it. And I was like, ‘I was gonna do it before the conversation!’. It was kind of perfect.”
We don’t have a clue who he’s playing, but Nanjiani’s generally affable demeanor means that he probably won’t be playing a villain. In fact, Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn’t even have a release date yet, but that’s expected to change next month when Disney Plus Day will see the Mouse House pat itself on the back for a job well done.