Ewan McGregor reacts to fans’ strong reactions towards Star Wars prequels and discusses the Obi-Wan Kenobi series

We just can’t get enough of Star Wars! We are anticipating an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor who will be reprising his role from the Star Wars prequels. This six episode series will take place 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. In a conversation with Hollywood Reporter, Ewan McGregor recalled his distress when he realised the reaction of fans to the franchise’s prequels - The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Fans are upset that the storylines deviated from the original plot, the dialogues were weak and the introduction of Jar Jar Binks did not help. The actor said that it was hard that they didn’t get well received. He also acknowledged the fact that they were not very much liked universally.

Revealing further details about his experience while working on the Star Wars prequels, McGregor said that director George Lucas’ vision was moving towards changing film technology. In the late 90s, Computer Graphics technology was gaining popularity but was not developed enough to make the final product seem lifelike. But, Lucas still went ahead with using the technique anyway in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, much to the dismay of his actors.

“After three or four months of that, it just gets really tedious – especially when the scenes are … I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare. There’s not something to dig into in the dialogue that can satisfy you when there’s no environment there. It was quite hard to do,” said the actor about working on a bluescreen. Physical sets and artificial backdrops had almost been wiped out and replaced by bluescreens by the time Revenge of the Sith was shot.

Disney+ Star Wars’ first live-action series, The Mandalorian, was able to overcome the problems of technological disconnect in a more successful way. Director Jon Favreau devised a method that ensured the elements of CGI are put in after the actors have already shot in an actual background that resembles the setting. Similar technology has been used on Obi-Wan, where virtual backgrounds were projected onto big LED screens behind the actors.

McGregor said the experience of working in front of LED screens is so realistic because the actors can see what's around them, he explained that if they are in a desert setting, you can see the desert around you, similarly if its a scene with snow, the actors are surrounded by snow and if it's the scene inside a starfighter cockpit, then they are suddenly surrounded by space.

McGregor also teased the possibility of a young Luke Skywalker being involved in the series by saying that it is very possible, but he does not know about it yet.

All six episodes of Obi-Wan will be helmed by Deborah Chow and the series is due to start filming soon.