May the Force be with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen.
The “Star Wars” prequel alums reprise their respective roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader for the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” premiering May 27, and both actors set out to educate themselves on the modern “Star Wars” canon.
“I watched [all of the ‘Star Wars’ films] from start to finish,” McGregor told Entertainment Weekly. “All nine movies. Just to get back in that world.” (EW noted “Solo” and “Rogue One” were excluded from McGregor’s watchlist.)
McGregor added, “It was interesting to watch our films because I hadn’t seen them since they came out, not at all. 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.”
Yet co-star Christensen took his research one step further and binged animated shows “The Clone Wars” and “Rebels” in addition to all the live-action films.
“It was interesting,” Christensen said. “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.”
Christensen is also slated to appear in Disney+ series “Ahsoka,” based on a character originated for the animated series “The Clone Wars.” Rosario Dawson portrays Ahsoka in the upcoming live-action version after bringing the character to life on “The Mandalorian.”
On playing Darth Vader again, Christensen previously told EW that it felt “very natural” to step back into the role. “I was just really excited to get to come in and play Darth Vader at this point in the timeline because it did feel like a natural continuation of your journey with the character,” he said. “And that was very meaningful for me.”
Plus, getting a chance to team up again with McGregor was an intergalactic dream come true. “I can tell you the first time that I saw Ewan as Obi-Wan again, that was a very special moment for me,” Christensen added. “One that I’ll remember for a very, very long time.”
The actor summed up, “One of the things I loved so much about working on ‘Star Wars’ projects is just that shared excitement, that everyone’s real excited to be there. You feel that energy, and that’s a really special thing.”
