For a while now, Disney has been prepping a Disney+ show all about Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor returning to the role of the Jedi Padawan-turned-Master he played in the prequels. It’s still a ways in the future, but obviously Star Wars fans are excited about the prospect of seeing this iconic character again, and Ewan McGregor may be just bored enough in quarantine to let a few details slip.
Speaking on the ACE Universe podcast, McGregor couldn’t reveal much about the show, but he did say that it would use the same ground-breaking technology used on the set of The Mandalorian. Called Volume, this tech allows actors to work on virtual sets built out of light-emitting diodes (LED) that can reflect the landscape of the scene being filmed. It’s like location shooting without ever leaving the studio.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind the scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen,” McGregor said. “And I don’t even begin to know how it works but it’s pretty amazing.”
"So when you’re on set, if you’re in a snowscape or something, when you look around, you see that. It makes you feel like you’re in a place. I think it’s going to be more…it’s going to feel real for us, for the actors, and I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show."
I’m going to assume he was just using a snowstorm as a random example, and not hinting at what awaits Obi-Wan in this new show. It takes place after Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope, when Obi-Wan is in exile on Tatooine. That’s traditionally a desert planet, but who knows if he took a trip or two off-world in the intervening years?
In any case, McGregor is confident that making the Obi-Wan show is going to be a better experience than making the Star Wars prequels. “I’m just going to enjoy it all much more,” he said. “Our technology is such that we’d shot on film, and when we got to Australia on the then-new HD cameras, which is pretty primitive compared to what we have now… It was all blue screen and green screen. It was hard to imagine it. Nowadays, things have moved on so much. A lot of what you see is going to be what we see.”
According to McGregor, the Obi-Wan series still doesn’t have a title, but of course fans are already full of suggestions:
"Hello There – A Star Wars Story from PrequelMemes"
Would watch.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be called,” McGregor said. “I do know sort of what it’s going to be about, but I’m not going to tell you.” Way to tease.
The Obi-Wan show has actually gone through a bit of an upheaval before the plague hit, with Disney scrapping some of the original scripts it had and going back to the drawing board with a new writer. Hopefully it’s full speed ahead now…as soon as it’s safe to shoot again.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels