Ewan McGregor Advocates for New ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Story and Yoda Connection
Few actors have shown as much dedication to a single character over the years as Ewan McGregor has with ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’. Since first portraying the Jedi Master in 1999’s ‘The Phantom Menace’, McGregor has continued to champion the role through two additional prequel films and a Disney+ limited series that marked his return after a seventeen-year hiatus.
His passion for the character remains strong even after ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ concluded in 2022. McGregor has seized nearly every promotional opportunity to advocate for another installment in the character’s journey, suggesting that the time between the Disney+ series and Obi-Wan’s eventual appearance in the original trilogy is rich with untold stories.
This week, McGregor’s campaign took a more defined shape. In an interview with Variety, he expressed his readiness to don the robes once more, stating, “I’m ready whenever they are. They just seem to not be ready, but I’m up for it.” He elaborated on where he envisions the character going next in his timeline.
“At the end of the ‘Obi-Wan’ series, I’m walking off into the desert and I’ve decided to leave. I’ve realized I can’t keep the pressure on Luke. I realized he has to have his own childhood, so I leave him with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. And I wander off… and Qui-Gon’s back,” McGregor told Variety, before proposing a specific storyline involving another cherished Jedi. “Yoda’s somewhere else. After the end of ‘Episode III,’ when we all go to the four or five corners of the galaxy — or however many corners it’s got! — I won’t have been in touch with him. But he’s out there. So I think there could be a story there where I’m trying to reach out to him.”
This concept aligns perfectly with the timeline McGregor has frequently highlighted as ripe for storytelling—the period between Obi-Wan settling on Tatooine after the events of the Disney+ series and his transformation into the aged hermit portrayed by Alec Guinness, who watches over Luke Skywalker in the original ‘Star Wars’. McGregor has mentioned this gap in several interviews over the past year, consistently referring to it as containing “a few stories to tell.”
The actor also reflected on the emotional distance inherent in that isolated time, describing a version of Obi-Wan who intentionally distances himself from Luke to allow the boy a normal childhood, while quietly reconnecting with Qui-Gon Jinn’s Force ghost. Including Yoda in this narrative, as someone Obi-Wan hasn’t communicated with since they scattered across the galaxy after ‘Revenge of the Sith’, adds another emotional layer that McGregor clearly believes is worth exploring on screen.
Despite his enthusiasm, McGregor has been honest that the decision is not in his hands. He has acknowledged in previous interviews that while he remains eager, Lucasfilm and Disney have not indicated that a follow-up is on the horizon, even as the studio continues to develop other ‘Star Wars’ projects, including James Mangold’s film focused on the first Jedi and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s upcoming feature starring Daisy Ridley’s Rey.
McGregor’s co-star from the Disney+ series, Hayden Christensen, has also shown interest in returning as Anakin Skywalker if it means reuniting with McGregor, adding further momentum to the idea of a sequel. Whether this leads to an actual greenlit project is entirely contingent on the studio’s broader plans for the franchise’s future.
Given how consistently McGregor has kept this discussion alive through interviews, awards circuits, and promotional events for unrelated projects, it’s evident that the actor is not inclined to let the idea fade away quietly. Whether Disney will eventually take him up on it remains one of the more pressing unanswered questions surrounding the franchise’s future.
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