Ewan McGregor Says That Yoda Being CGI Didn't Work In The Prequels

The Star Wars franchise will be expanded greatly with more TV and limited series on the Disney+ platform thanks to Lucasfilm. Many Star Wars fans will explore different eras of the galaxy around and between the times of the original, prequel, and sequel trilogies.

Possibly the most anticipated show in the ongoing franchise is the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series starring Ewan McGregor. Currently, the show is filming for a possible 2022 release focusing on the events ten years after Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and nine years prior to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

McGregor was cast as a younger version of the Obi-Wan character that the legendary Sir Alec Guinness portrayed in the original trilogy for the prequel trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith). Honestly, he was one of the most popular characters in those particular films.

Recently, Ewan McGregor spoke with Variety about the experience making Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and working with a puppet Yoda on set for his performance. McGregor described his experience with the puppet as "amazing," going into detail about how he felt he was "lucky to do [his] scenes" with the puppet version of Master Yoda.

"Amazing! The first film I did, I was lucky to do my scenes with the Yoda puppet. And it was extraordinary, because I acted with him. I couldn’t believe I was acting with Yoda. There’s so many people operating him, and the stage is lifted up so they’re underneath the floor and we were literally walking next to each other — and he’s alive. Then every time George called cut, Yoda would die, because everyone just stops. It was sort of disturbing every time the end of the scene would come along."

The puppet was later replaced by a CGI version of the Yoda character in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, which McGregor was not exactly thrilled by, describing the experience as "not nearly as endearing." Even with the change up in the appearance of Yoda being "suddenly computer generated...didn't feel like Yoda," from McGregor's perspective:

"Then they replaced him for our second film and our third film with the digital version of him, and it’s not nearly as endearing. Also, we know Yoda as a puppet. We know him from the original movies as a puppet. So when it was suddenly computer generated, it didn’t feel like Yoda to me anymore. It was interesting that it went back to an actual puppet with (The Mandalorian)."

Pedro Pascal, star of The Mandalorian, threw in his opinions of the subject, calling it a "sort of tearful goodbye" that the cast had a similar experience on set during their time with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda). Pedro describes the whole situation as being "one of the more strange acting experiences" that he's had.

"It worked on so many levels, and the way that we had to end the second season with this sort of tearful goodbye. To not have had the puppet for that, and also the knowledge of its reception from the world and how everyone felt about its creation, its relationship to the history of Star Wars — it was one of the more strange acting experiences that I’ve ever had.

"There were so many different things factoring into it that it wasn’t necessarily understanding the story so well in terms of what we were telling within The Mandalorian, but the context of all of it. If that makes any sense."

CGI has been a great tool for producing tons of mega blockbusters, but there is something special about puppets and practical effects that warms the hearts of viewers everywhere.

Written By Andre Porter

Source(s): The Direct

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