Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are back in their iconic roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in the upcoming Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi, which premieres on May 27. But even after playing the characters in multiple movies — three for McGregor and two for Christensen — they both thought they could use a little refresher and did what so many fans of the Star Wars saga have done: hunkered down for a Star Wars movie marathon.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, McGregor revealed that he watched all nine movies of the original Skywalker saga from start to finish. Christensen took it a step further, rewatching all of the original movies plus the animated Star Wars series, The Clone Wars and Rebels.
The animated series covers more of the relationship between the Jedi friends-turned-rivals. In the case of The Clone Wars, it builds on the Obi-Wan and Anakin relationship that the prequels first showed. Then Rebels delves into what was going on with both Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in the period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
"They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship," Christensen told EW. "There was interesting stuff 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."
As for McGregor, he revealed that this rewatch was the first time he had seen the prequels that he was a star of since the movies came out, telling EW it was nice to "enjoy them without all of the noise that was around when they came out."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a six-part limited series that takes place 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan Kenobi is living in exile on Tatooine and looking out for a young Luke Skywalker. However, the Empire and its elite team of Jedi hunters are trying to locate him and eradicate the Jedi once and for all.
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In addition to McGregor and Christensen, Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Rupert Friend (Anatomy of a Scandal), Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals), Benny Safdie (Liquorice Pizza), Sung Kang, Indira Varma (Luther, GoT), O’Shea Jackson Jr., Simone Kessell, Maya Erskine and Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, the latter two reprising their roles of Owen and Beru Lars in the Star Wars prequels.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is just one of the many Star Wars originals that Disney Plus has in its pipeline. In addition to The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, the streaming service is prepping Andor, a series about Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from Rogue One, Ahsoka starring Rosario Dawson, a series about a young Lando Calrissian starring Donald Glover and animated series The Bad Batch and Star Wars Visions.
To watch any of these series, including Obi-Wan Kenobi when it debuts on May 27, you will need a Disney Plus subscription, which is available as either a standalone service or as part of the Disney Bundle.
