Award-winning actor Ewan McGregor has been iconic for playing Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise since portraying the character in The Phantom Menace.
While the prequel trilogy films were not well-received critically, the actor's performance as the Jedi Master was considered to be one of its shining lights, and most audiences today would now associate the role with him.
He went on to reprise the role in a six-episode limited series that aired in 2022 on Disney+. While it also received mixed reviews from the critics, his performance still received a considerable amount of praise.
However, as it turns out, he had some initial reluctance when he was being cast to play his now-iconic role.
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Ewan McGregor Opens Up About His Decision to Play Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars
In his recent appearance during a panel at Göteborg Film Festival (via Variety), Ewan McGregor admitted that he was initially "very reluctant" to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
"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," he said.
While he was happy that his portrayal of the character was well-received by fans, he still felt discouraged when The Phantom Menace received unfavorable reviews during that time.
He continued, "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."
Fortunately, McGregor had an enjoyable experience when he made the Disney+ series and he is still open to playing the character again in a potential second season.
"I would love to do the second season, but there’s no talk of it yet. There is a lot going on at Disney," he noted.
Despite the initial hesitations that McGregor may have felt during that time, it is great that he has embraced the character throughout the years since then and he is not also closing the doors on any possibility to reprise the role again.
Hopefully, we'll get to see him play the Jedi Master again at some point in the future since there are still a couple of stories that they can tell in the years before his demise.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is available to stream on Disney+.
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