Obi-Wan Kenobi's Ewan McGregor would like to remind fans that, not so long ago, they viewed the prequel trilogy with as much hostility as the current Star Wars films.
Speaking with Total Film Magazine, McGregor opened up about frustrations he had with the CG-heavy making of George Lucas' Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005. "I found it very hard to make those films," he admitted, describing the filming process as involving "lots and lots of greenscreen and bluescreen. By the time we did Episode III, it was almost all entirely greenscreen. If there was a bit of a set, that was a turn-up for the books. They were just so hard to make."
Though Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith garnered favorable reviews compared to its two predecessors, McGregor still recalled how negatively critics and Star Wars fans derided the prequel trilogy's individual storylines upon release. As he put it, "they weren't received very well. Every time they were released, they were being hammered. And that didn't feel very good."
Criticism surrounding the Star Wars prequel trilogy has often centered on its excessive computer-generated visuals, the cast's performances and Lucas' dialogue. This led to much fandom hostility being directed at cast members like Ahmed Best, who played Jar-Jar Binks, and Hayden Christensen, who played a grown-up Anakin Skywalker. That said, McGregor's Obi-Wan performance was praised across all three films.
In recent years, however, Star Wars fans have grown more appreciative of the prequels' world-building aspects and themes of democratic institutions sliding into authoritarianism. Additional praise stems from the 2008 animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which further fleshed out Obi-Wan and Anakin's characterizations and relationship with one another during the titular conflict.
By contrast, reception towards the Disney-era sequel trilogy started out positively with The Force Awakens, only for its second entry, The Last Jedi, to polarize critics and fans while its third, The Rise of Skywalker, was received negatively. This has drawn further comparisons to the prequel trilogy under the belief that, while Lucas' films were flawed, they were designed with a concise ending in mind.
Taking place ten years after Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi follows an exiled Obi-Wan, who finds himself in the crosshairs of the Galactic Empire's Jedi hunters, the Inquistors. The former Jedi will also face off against Darth Vader, played again by Christensen, whom McGregor admitted "scared the shit out of me," while filming one scene. To prepare for this role, Christensen revealed that he not only watched all nine films, but also binged stories from The Clone Wars and its animated follow-up, Star Wars Rebels.
Directed by Deborah Chow, Obi-Wan Kenobi's first two episodes hit Disney+ on Friday, May 27.
Source: Total Film Magazine (GamesRadar+)