Obi-Wan hides the Force in new 'Star Wars' TV series, says Ewan McGregor

[May 20, 2022]    By Rollo Ross

(Reuters) - "Star Wars" Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi is back for a six-part television series and so is Ewan McGregor, who had played him as a young man. Forget the Jedi mind tricks and lightsaber battles, though.

"Obi-Wan's not doing that anymore. He's living a normal life. He's not living the life of a Jedi anymore," said McGregor, who is also executive producer of the series, in an interview.

"We can see from the trailer that there are these inquisitors that are doing Vader's job of tracking down the last Jedi. He wants to destroy every last Jedi," he said. "They're looking for him, so you can't use the Force because he might give himself away."

It has been 17 years since McGregor donned the cowl of the Jedi in "Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith," the last of the prequel trilogy.

"They were very difficult to make. The blue screen, green screen nature of them were very difficult to act in and also they weren't much liked when they came out," the Scottish actor said.

Few details of the series have been revealed, but they appear to set the stage for the first meeting of Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, the towering dark knight that his former pupil Anakin Skywalker had turned into by the end of the prequels.

McGregor, 51, is now closer to the age of Alec Guinness when he played Obi-Wan in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Hayden Christensen is reprising his role of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

"Acting with him on set just felt like this last 17 years just didn't happen, like there was some crazy time warp or something," McGregor said. "It was very bizarre."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" begins streaming on Disney+ on May 27.

(Reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Richard Chang)

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