Disney+ is going all in on “Star Wars”, with three shows premiering this year.
Stars Rosario Dawson, Pedro Pascal, Ewan McGregor and Diego Luna are on the cover of the new Vanity Fair, all in character, and ready to discuss the future of a galaxy far, far away.
READ MORE: Ewan McGregor Passionately Defends The ‘Star Wars’ Prequel Movies: ‘I Like Them’
“What’s unique about ‘Star Wars’ is that we’re one story, basically,” says Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “George was always dealing with episodes. Ironically, he was serializing his storytelling. He was influenced by Flash Gordon and cliffhangers on Saturdays at movie theatres. All of that informed what the DNA of ‘Star Wars’ is, which is why I think it’s just organic that we made the transition into television.”
McGregor is returning to the franchise — last appearing in 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith” — to star in the new series “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, but it turns out “Star Wars” is consuming his life even more than he expected.
“My partner, Mary [Elizabeth Winstead], is doing that ‘Star Wars’ series with Rosario and she’s about to start,” he says. “Our little boy has been born into this massive ‘Star Wars’ family. He will either embrace it or really go the other way. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll be a Trekkie!”
Also returning to the franchise for the new series is Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel films, and has now fully transformed into Darth Vader.
“This is a character that has come to define my life in so many ways,” Christensen says. “I was originally hired to play a very specific portion of this person’s life. Most of my work was with Anakin. And now I get to come back and explore the character of Darth Vader. A lot of my conversations with Deborah [Chow] were about wanting to convey this feeling of strength, but also coupled with imprisonment. There is this power and vulnerability, and I think that’s an interesting space to explore.”
In a video for the magazine, McGregor, Christensen and co-star Moses Ingram sat down to answer seven important “Star Wars” questions, ranging from describing their characters to how they reacted when they were first cast in a “Star Wars” project.
Christensen recalls having an “ear-to-ear” grin, and his roommate asked, “Is that smile what I think it is?” before running over to his record player to play an old “Star Wars” soundtrack.
Ingram, who plays the Inquisitor Reva, recalls, “It was one intense really long week of auditioning,” before she got on one final Zoom call, learning she got the part in “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
Canadian director Deborah Chow, who is helming the “Obi-Wan” series, talks about bridging the gaps between the prequels and the original trilogy by focusing on Kenobi and Anakin.
“For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing,” she says. “I felt like it was quite hard to not [include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series.”
She was especially intrigued by Obi-Wan still feeling a deep love for Anakin, saying, I don’t know how you could not. I don’t think he ever will not care about him. What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”
After “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, Disney+ will also premiere the new series “Andor”, a spin-off of the film “Rogue One”, with Luna reprising his role as a rebel leader. Pascal will also be back for a third season of “The Mandalorian”.
