Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reveal their favorite Obi-Wan Kenobi memories

Ewan McGregor in Obi-Wan Kenobi
(Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

It's been almost 20 years since Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen last played Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, but they've picked up their lightsabers again for the upcoming Disney Plus show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Speaking with Total Film, the actors share their favorite memories from filming the new Star Wars series.

"A lot of amazing memories," Christensen tells us. "The first time I saw Ewan as Obi-Wan again, that was huge. First time I put back on the Darth Vader costume, that was a very emotional experience for me. But yeah, there was more than a few of them."

McGregor and Christensen haven't worked together since 2005's Revenge of the Sith, and reuniting was another special experience for Christensen. 

"It was incredible," he says. "We had a great time when we were working on the prequels, and we became very close, and he's someone that I have a tremendous amount of love for. Stepping back into these roles again, it was kind of like no time had passed. But of course, it was all these years later, and so there was this surreal aspect to it too where we were both kind of like, we couldn't believe that we were doing this." 

As for McGregor, he's hesitant to give too much away. "There's some very special memories from this," the actor says on a separate Zoom call. "There's one scene that I play that's a very special memory, but I can't say why or what it's about, so maybe you'll know later." 

But, he does reveal that working on Obi-Wan Kenobi reminded him of earlier times playing the titular Jedi. "All of the physical stuff, fighting, be it with a lightsaber or not, was really good fun to work on and to train for, as it had been in the original films," he says. "Some of the lightsaber fights from Episode 3, for instance, or the fight with Darth Maul in Episode 1 with Liam [Neeson] was pretty amazing to learn and to train for and to actually shoot. So I'm quite proud of those moments."


Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts exclusively on Disney Plus from May 27. For much more on the series, check out our interviews with McGregor and Christensen on how Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship has changed and Christensen on why he didn't speak to George Lucas before returning as Darth Vader, as well as Moses Ingram on playing the newest Star Wars villain, Reva.

For everything else coming soon from the galaxy far, far away, see our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows coming soon.

TOPICS
Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

Read more
Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Ahsoka episode 5
Hayden Christensen has paid the ultimate respect to Anakin's Clone Wars actor: "Thank you for keeping Star Wars alive"
Werner Herzog in The Mandalorian
Star Wars fans are sharing their favorite unbelievable canon cameos – and some of them are seriously deep-cut
Darth Vader rising
20 years later, Star Wars fans are reflecting on one of the saga's most poignant moments
Andor
Star Wars fans are debating the saga's darkest moment, and it's reminding us how messed up the galaxy actually is
Jod Na Nawood holding a lightsaber
A Jedi was cut from the Star Wars Skeleton Crew finale – was she Jod’s former master?
Andor
Andor season 2 release date, cast, trailer, and more news
Latest in Sci-Fi Shows
Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us
The Last of Us is "better" than 28 Days Later, says movie writer Alex Garland: "This is so much more sophisticated and moving"
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
Andor season 2 showrunner talks the much-anticipated Star Wars moment that we haven't seen on screen before: "It's a very significant part of our show"
Fallout
Fallout season 2’s dazzling and dystopian New Vegas is coming to life in a new leaked video
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor
The first three episodes of the best Star Wars show are now available to watch for free ahead of the Andor season 2 premiere
The Last of Us season 2 trailer shows spores
The Last of Us season 2 is bringing in one of the biggest game omissions from season 1 – and the showrunners say it's for a "good reason"
Kaitlyn Dever as Abby in The Last Of Us season 2
The Last of Us season 2's Abby star Kaitlyn Dever admits it's been hard to not look at character backlash on the internet
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2