“He’s Really Lost His Way”: Ewan McGregor Reveals Obi-Wan’s Star Wars Return Was Originally Even More Brutal
Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor revealed in a recent interview that the Obi-Wan Kenobi show almost gave the exiled Jedi Master an even sadder story.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor revealed that the fan-favorite Jedi almost had an even bleaker storyline in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan is one of Star Wars’ most tragic characters, having lost almost everyone he cared about in the prequel trilogy. As one of the few Jedi who survived Order 66, he was also left with tremendous survivor’s guilt. Although Obi-Wan has been prominent in several Star Wars movies and TV shows, though, the immediate aftermath he experienced after the Jedi massacre wasn’t fully revealed until Obi-Wan Kenobi.
As dark as Obi-Wan’s story already was, though, it seems the Obi-Wan Kenobi show almost made it even more painful. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ewan McGregor explained:
“The first episode used to start with me as a waiter in a bar. You know, like he’s really lost his way, Obi-Wan. He’s working in a bar, he’s drinking too much, I get beaten up. People are kicking me , and I’m just like taking it, and then starting out, you know, into the night. I mean, that was our first idea anyway. There was a draft where that’s how it started.”
This version of Obi-Wan Kenobi is almost too sad to imagine, and it certainly would have changed perceptions about how far the Jedi had fallen.
Star Wars had already put Obi-Wan Kenobi through the wringer in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith; this would have been a bridge too far. Throughout the prequels, Obi-Wan watched his beloved Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, die in front of him while he was trapped and unable to help. Star Wars: The Clone Wars added new heartbreak, introducing Satine Kryze as Obi-Wan’s love interest only to have her also die in front of him. Then, of course, the prequels end with Obi-Wan needing to fight his own self-proclaimed brother, Anakin Skywalker, after essentially raising him.
The added misery of Obi-Wan Kenobi developing a bad drinking habit was also simply unnecessary. It was abundantly clear just from the pain of Obi-Wan’s isolation on Tatooine in the final version of Obi-Wan Kenobi that he had suffered enormously and was left broken. Adding a vice and some physical assaults to the mix would have been too much.
Particularly as Obi-Wan was still heavily grieving his losses even ten years later and was about to learn that his former apprentice was not only still alive but also more evil, Obi-Wan Kenobi effectively communicates his distraught state. Thankfully, this original, more painful plan was tossed out. In the end, Obi-Wan Kenobi perfectly captured the pain Obi-Wan was experiencing in the Dark Times, and it luckily didn’t require Obi-Wan getting beat up in a bar.
