Before filming the upcoming Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Ewan McGregor went back and watched the entire Skywalker saga, whilst Hayden Christensen went even deeper into Star Wars canon, by watching The Clone Wars and Rebels too.
I watched them from start to finish,” McGregor says. “All nine movies. Just to get back in that world.”
It turns out this was the first time McGregor watched the prequels since they were originally released. “It was interesting to watch our films because I hadn’t seen them since they came out, not at all,” he says. “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.”
That’s not the only prep McGregor did; he also delved more into the entire genre. “I started reading science fiction,” he reveals. “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.”
While McGregor went back and watched the entire Skywalker saga, Christensen went even deeper into the Star Wars canon. “I went back and rewatched all the films,” says the man who will be once again going behind the mask as Darth Vader. “And I also got into the animated shows, The Clone Wars and Rebels.”
“It was interesting,” Christensen says of binging The Clone Wars and Rebels. “They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27th.
