Obi-Wan and Darth Vader are back together for the first time since 2005.
Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen return to their iconic roles from the “Star Wars” prequel series in the new Disney+ limited series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” For the stars, it’s been a long journey since the prequels premiered.
“For the response not to be rosy when they came out, was hard. It was hard,” McGregor told Variety’s Marc Malkin on the red carpet at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim on Thursday. “I think it made me sort of put my blinkers on a little bit… Over the years, I’ve felt now the appreciation for the prequels, the warmth that there is for the generation that we made them for. For them, our ‘Star Wars’ films are their ‘Star Wars’ films.”
Christensen, who has gone full Darth Vader for the first time with “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” was beyond happy to get the call from director Deborah Chow about reprising the role as the broken Anakin Skywalker. When asked if he ever believed he’d be coming back to Star Wars, he answered, “For the longest time, no I did not. I guess maybe a few years leading up to it, the idea started to percolate in the back of my head and I thought that there is certainly more there to explore. And I’m so happy to get to do so.”
To Chow — who previously directed on “The Mandalorian” before taking on all six episodes of “Obi-Wan” — having Christensen back was essential.
“We’re so connected to the prequels and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and, obviously having Ewan back, but to have Hayden back, I don’t think it would have made sense otherwise,” she explained.
While the series features many fan-favorite roles from the past, it also introduces a number of new characters. Moses Ingram stars as Inquisitor Reva, a powerful Sith force-user from Darth Vader’s death squad tasked with finding and killing the universe’s remaining Jedis. For Ingram, taking on the role was astonishing.
“It’s really dope,” she explained. “And Suttirat, our costume designer is amazing so putting on the suit does a lot of the work for you. It just makes you stand up and walk around all big. And Deb plays the music while we’re filming, so it’s really crazy.”
For more “Obi-Wan Kenobi” scoops, watch the full interviews with McGregor (above) and Christensen (below). The first two episodes of the series are now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
