Ewan McGregor has had to lie in the past about reprising his iconic role as Obi-Wan Kenobi ahead of filming and shooting for the recent Disney+ series.
So some fans may not take the actor at his word when he says that no one from the Star Wars universe has contacted him about taking a new turn as the Jedi Master.
But that was exactly his position when he sat down for an interview LAD Bible while promoting his latest series A Gentleman In Moscow, in which he stars alongside his real-life wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
“There hasn’t been a call from Lucasfilm or Disney saying, ‘Let’s do another one.’ Obi-Wan was made as a limited series and it’s out and people are liking it, which I’m really happy about.”
He continued, “I love doing it. I hope we get the chance to do another one and I’m sure we will. I’m pretty sure I have a few more years before I’m the same age as Alec Guinness in A New Hope. So there is time to tell more stories.’
Ewan McGregor, 53, spoke about whether he will reprise his iconic role as Obi-Wan Kenobi as he promotes his new series in A Gentleman In Russia
So right now, McGregor claims nothing is in the works to reprise the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he’s “pretty sure” he’ll get the chance to do another Star Wars production.
The question of whether he has another turn as Obi-Wan in the works will most likely come up when he’s interviewed for something related to his acting career.
And although he has lied about it before in the past, with this new start he assures the interviewer that he is now telling the truth.
“The truth is, I’ve been talking about covering Obi-Wan season for years. I had to lie about that and I won’t lie about that now,” the old leading man said with a straight face.
McGregor first stepped into the role of Obi-Wan in the prequel film Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), alongside Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August and Frank Oz.
Written and directed by George Lucas, the first of the trilogy grossed a whopping $1.027 billion at the worldwide box office against a budget of $115 million.
The follow-up Episode II – Attack Of The Clones (2002), helmed by Lucas who co-wrote the screenplay with Jonathan Hales, did not do as well in terms of monetization, but still grossed $653.8 million while working with another budget of $115 million.
Lucas wrote and directed Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), which was released three years later, and earned $868.4 million after spending $113 million on the production.
The Scottish actor first joined the Star Wars universe when he starred alongside Liam Neeson in Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), written and directed by George Lucas.
McGregor played Obi-Wan in George Lucas’ three prequel Star War films, which also starred Hayden Christiansen
Some 17 years passed until McGregor stepped back into the shoes of Obi-Wan for the Disney+ series directed by Deborah Chow.
The cast also included Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Jimmy Smits, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Rupert Friend, Sung Kang, Moses Ingram, Vivien Lyra Blair, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
The project originated as a spin-off film written by Hossein Amini and directed by Stephen Daldry, but was eventually turned into a limited series after the commercial failure of the film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), which still grossed $393. 2 million. against a huge budget of between $270 million and $330.4 million.
Alden Ehrenreich took over the iconic role of Han Solo from Harrison Ford for the film, which was directed by Ron Howard, working from a script by Jonathan Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan.
The native of Perth, Scotland, most recently played the role of the Jedi Master in the six-episode Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).
For his latest role in A Gentleman In Moscow, McGregor plays Count Alexander Rostov, a man who recently returns to Russia from Paris, is arrested and banished to an attic hotel room for decades in the aftermath of the October Revolution after being sentenced to house arrest . arrest by a Bolshevik tribunal.
The eight-episode series, created by Ben Vanstone, who co-wrote the scripts with Nessah Muthy, is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Amor Towles.
‘There is something about Amor’s novel that I haven’t felt this way about a book in a long time. It definitely sucked me into the story and I was living in it,” he admitted when asked what drew him to play the role.
The October Revolution, also known as the October Coup, was led by Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik party and is considered a key moment in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917-1923.
For his latest role, Ewan McGregor plays Count Rostov alongside real-life wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Alexa Goodall in the Showtime-Paramount + series A Gentleman in Moscow
It was the second revolutionary change of government in Russia in 1917 and took place through an armed uprising in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) on November 7, 1917.
To help achieve the look of the role of Count Alexander Rostov, McGregor sported a truly stunning mustache.
In addition to McGregor, the cast includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Fehinti Balogun, Daniel Cerqueria, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Johnny Harris, Leah Harvey, John Heffernan, Paul Ready, Lyès Salem, Anastasia Hille and Jason Forbes in recurring roles.
The British series premiered on Showtime and Paramount+ on March 29, with subsequent seven episodes releasing every Friday through May 17.