Ewan McGregor on His Initial Reluctance To Join STAR WARS, How Fans Disliked The Films, and OBI-WAN KENOBI Season 2

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor recently opened up about his time in the Star Wars franchise. He shared his reluctance to initially take on the role of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. He also talked about how it was for him when the movie was hammered by fans. McGregor also offered an update on Obi-Wan Kenobi Season 2, which doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon.

2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which a lot of fans were totally disappointed with. I remember being so excited about that movie, and then walking out of the theater wondering what in the hell just happened. However, did love that climatic lightsaber fight scene with Darth Maul at the end! I appreciate the prequel trilogy a lot more now, especially after how much of a mess the sequel trilogy is.

While talking to Variety, McGregor admitted he was initially "very reluctant" to play the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. he said: "It wasn’t a done deal for me. I didn’t think it was at all who I was. I believed, at that point, I was a Danny Boyle actor. The Beach was more important and I meant it, it wasn’t flippant. I did ask a lot of people for advice."

As you know, Boyle ended up ditching McGregor for Leonardo DiCaprio on The Beach, and there was some bad blood between the actor and the director for years after that.

McGregor went on to talk about how the movie was received, saying: "I am happy that I am this character for a lot of people, but when these films came out, they were so disliked. That was hard. The first one was panned and we still had to make another two! It was weird to be in a film that was hammered."

While it was a rough go for him all those years about, McGregor came back to reprise his role in the Disney+ series, and he had a great time making it. When talking about the possibility of Season 2, the actor said: "I would love to do the second season, but there’s no talk of it yet. There is a lot going on at Disney."

While the actors would all like to continue their Star Wars journey, Kathleen Kennedy and director Deborah Chow aren’t committed to it happening. McGregor previously said: "I was so happy to do it again, and so happy to work with Hayden again. I hope we get the chance to do it again."

As for what Kennedy thinks about a second season, she said: "I always hesitate to say no to more Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maybe we end up doing something that gets incorporated into some of the other stories that we're doing, or eventually into a movie, but who knows? But right now, it's still our standard stand-alone limited series. We have no plans for expansion right now."

When Chow talked about the future of Obi-Wan Kenobi, she said: “For this one, we really did conceive it to be a limited series. It really is one big story with a beginning, middle, and end. So, we weren’t thinking past that. I think, you know, if it was to go forward, it would only be if there was a real reason for another one.”

There are some fans that would like to see a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but there’s really no reason for it to happen.