Ewan McGregor Confirms When 'Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Will Start Filming

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series is the next big Star Wars TV series that fans are looking forward to seeing. When Ewan McGregor officially confirmed at D23 Expo last year that he was returning to the role for a Disney+ series. People had long suspected that a Kenobi story starring Ewan McGregor would come in the form of a standalone film, but a limited series allows for more screentime to really flesh out the story and the character.

We know that the series is coming out in 2022, and we have known that the plan has been for it to be filmed next year. Ewan McGregor recently appeared via virtual chat in an episode of Graham Norton. When asked about the series, McGregor actually revealed when filming is set to begin:

"We start shooting it in March next year.”

In the times of the pandemic, it has come at no surprise for certain things to be delayed. So it is somewhat reassuring to hear that there is a set filming date, and that it is not too far off. Right now, we are in October, and March is only five months away. Of course, it will take longer for the actual finished show to be released for all of us to see. Regardless, it is nice to know that it is still moving forward at a pretty good pace.

When the subject of McGregor getting closer to the age that Alec Guinnes was at the time that he played old Ben Kenobi came up, McGregor went on to talk about some of the research he did for the role.

"The fun thing about doing them in the first place, when I was much younger, was trying to imagine Alec Guinness and how he would play these streams as a younger guy. It led me to watch a lot of his early work, which I hadn't seen before. Brilliant movies, wonderful films he'd been in and I just had such a great time studying him in those movies. This time, I will be much closer in age to him and it will be my challenge to sort of meet him somewhere. It's a great honor to try and pretend to be him."

Hearing about how McGregor had looked at some of the other films in which Alec Guinness has starred brings to mind how research for The Mandalorian included watching some of the things that influenced Star Wars itself, including Kurosawa films. Going beyond watching just what has been seen in Star Wars seems to have been a proven successful strategy. The Mandalorian has been praised for how it utilizes aspects of genres like westerns or even samurai films. Plus, regardless of the quality of the prequel films overall, people generally see Ewan McGregor’s performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi as a great performance. For many, he may be the first face that comes to mind when the name of the character is spoken aloud. He may not look exactly like how Alec Guinness looked when he was younger, but people bought into the idea that McGregor’s Obi-Wan grows up to be Guinness’ Obi-Wan. They really do feel like the same character, despite changes here and there.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will take place during the gap between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Perhaps Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan may feel like he is closer to Alec Guinness in feel than when we last saw him at the end of the prequel trilogy. This may prove to be a great way of bridging the gap between the first two trilogies.

Written By Steven Shinder

Syndicated From Culture Slate