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The highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi series is debuting on Disney+ this May, and no, not on Star Wars Day (May 4th). The limited series from Lucasfilm is set to premiere on Wednesday, May 25. The date was revealed on Feb. 9, along with an official poster for the series featuring the iconic Jedi Master.
Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Ewan McGregor as the titular character. The cast also includes Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, Benny Safdie and Hayden Christensen, who reprised his role as Darth Vader for the original series.
According to the streaming giant, Obi-Wan Kenobi “begins 10 years after the dramatic events of ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’ where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.”
Ewan shared in a new interview with Forbes that he “loved playing” the Star Wars character again. The actor said, “I mean it’s quite interesting, after the experience of making the first three films and living through sort of their reception in the world, which wasn’t always glowing, I have to say. And then now, meeting the generation who we made those films for, the children then - and now, people in their late teens or early 20s, those people who were kids who we made those films for, they loved them. To them, they’re their Star Wars films, you know? For us, it was the original films of the ‘70s, but for them, it was our films were their Star Wars. So to step back into his shoes again now and do a series, a whole series about Obi-Wan Kenobi for those fans, it just makes me really happy.”
The Moulin Rouge star also said that filming the new show was a “great experience.” “Deborah Chow directed all the episodes and she’s really good. She directed a couple [episodes] of The Mandalorian and she’s a really great director. She really knows the Star Wars world, inside out, far more than I do (laughs). We just had a great time. I think it’s no secret that Hayden Christensen comes back and we got to play scenes together again as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and it was just fantastic to work with him again,” he said.
Ewan added, “I’m not going to give away anything else about the storyline, only I think it’s really going to satisfy Star Wars fans. I always felt there was a story between Episode III where I finished playing Obi-Wan in the movies and Episode IV where Alec Guinness is Obi-Wan Kenobi. The [Obi-Wan Kenobi series] writers and Deb and I and everyone, I think we crafted or they crafted a very fine storyline. I think people are going to like it.”