Kumail Nanjiani Reveals What It’s Like Working With Ewan McGregor On ‘Kenobi’

Although not much is known about the latest “Star Wars” live-action show, fans already can’t enough of “Kenobi.”

The move marks the return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, who last assumed the role of Anakin’s Jedi Master in 2005’s “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.” Hayden Christensen will also be resuming his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

Sun Kang, best known as Han from the “Fast and Furious” franchise, will also be joining the six-episode limited series, as will Kumail Nanjiani. Best known for his roles on “Portlandia” and “Silicon Valley,” Nanjiani gained some serious muscle in Marvel’s “Eternals.”

He recently revealed what it was like to work with McGregor on such a high-profile project.

Getting used to working on the set of a “Star Wars” project is a surreal experience for many actors, but for Nanjiani, it felt like he was really being teleported into a galaxy far, far away.

“You really feel like you’re there,” he explained in a recent interview. “The first scene we shot, it was Star Wars outside the windows, with aliens walking around and ships flying by and all this stuff, but the rest of it just looked like a warehouse. So I did a couple of takes and then Ewan was like, ‘You know, none of this is real.’ I knew the windows weren’t real, but the walls weren’t either. I looked and I was like, ‘Wow, the walls are projected.’”

He added, “The only thing that was real in the whole room was the desk I was sitting at. It was wild. It was really, really exciting. I love shooting like that, because you don’t have to pretend that you’re on a spaceship flying through space. It really feels like you’re in a spaceship flying through space.”

McGregor, who recently won an Emmy for his role as the titular character in the 2021 “Halston” miniseries, has been attached to several high-profile projects. However, for “Star Wars” fans, he will forever be known as Obi-Wan.

“My character is supposed to be a little bit intimidated by him, and I was a little bit intimidated,” Nanjianai admitted. “You know, it’s f--king Obi-Wan. What are you gonna do?”

Although he described McGregor as “super nice,” Nanjiana was impressed by how quickly McGregor slipped into his Jedi persona.

“We got to know each other a little bit, just hanging out and talking,” he explained. “Then there was this weird moment where I’m talking to Ewan and they yell ‘Action,’ and he’d start talking to me, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m talking to Obi-Wan right now. This is not Ewan McGregor. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi that I’m talking to.’”

Although not much has been revealed about the plot or its characters, Nanjiani teased that his role will be “substantial.”

“I was so excited about this character,” he explained. “We haven’t seen this exact thing in Star Wars yet. This is like a new version of a type of Star Wars character we’ve seen before. And she [director DeborahChow] was trying to sell me on it. And I was like, ‘I was gonna do it before the conversation!’”

As with many actors, just getting the chance to work on the set of a “Star Wars” production is a dream come true.

“It’s amazing to be inside the world of Star Wars, the world that I’ve been watching since I was born,” he added. “I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember. In fact, I just went to Disneyland, and I went to the Star Wars world, and I was like, ‘Oh, this kinda feels like being at work.’”

'Kenobi' has an anticipated release date of 2022.