Ewan McGregor Binged 'Star Wars' To Prepare For 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'

Actors Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen both confessed to binging “Star Wars” ahead of their appearance in the Disney+ “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, both prequel trilogy actors admitted to binging the “Star Wars” movies and shows ahead of reprising the roles they last played 17 years ago.

McGregor, who will reprise his role as the titular Obi-Wan Kenobi, admitted to binging all nine movies in the Skywalker Saga.

“I watched them start to finish,” he said. “All nine movies. Just to get back in that world.”

Since he admitted to only watching nine movies, it sounds like he skipped “Rogue One,” the prequel to “A New Hope” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which featured a young Han Solo and an introduction to the Crimson Dawn.

McGregor said that this was the first time that he had actually sat down to watch the prequel trilogy since it was released.

“It was interesting to watch our films because I hadn't seen them since they came out, not at all,” he confessed. “So it was cool to see and interesting to watch them and enjoy them without all of the noise that was around when they came out.”

The Emmy-award-winning actor also admitted to taking a deep dive into the entire science fiction genre.

“I started reading science fiction,” he explained. “Iain M. Banks is a Scottish writer, and I started reading his science-fiction novels. I kind of didn't do it the first [time]. I did absolutely study Alec Guinness and watched the original three Star Wars films when we did the first one, but I didn't really think about the genre. And it's not something I would normally do, but this time I did.”

He added, “I got jazzed about being back in space because I really love it as a movie watcher.”

While McGregor was content to binge the movies, Christensen watched everything in the “Star Wars” canon to prepare himself for reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

“I went back and rewatched all the films, and I also got into the animated shows, The Clone Wars and Rebels,” Christensen shared.

“It was interesting,” Christensen said of the two animated shows. “They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.”

Christensen will not only be reprising his role for “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” He is also set to star in the Disney+ live-action “Ahsoka” series, which starts filming later this month in Los Angeles. With a release date scheduled for sometime in 2023, not much is known about the series. The titular Ahsoka Tano will again be played by Rosario Dawson, who first portrayed the animated character in “The Mandalorian” before making a brief appearance in “The Book of Boba Fett.”

Although “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was supposed to debut on May 25, 2022 – to take place exactly 45 years after “A New Hope” premiered in theaters on May 25, 1977, the release date was pushed back two days to coincide with the annual Star Wars Celebration, which takes place in Anaheim, California, this year. To make up for the delay, two episodes of the six-episode limited series will be released on May 27 on Disney+.