‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Stars & Director Preview the Show’s Dark and Edgy Tone

Star Wars may be set in a galaxy far, far away, but the series premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi is just around the corner, and with it comes one of the franchise’s darkest chapters according to its stars and director.

Sitting down for the Obi-Wan Kenobi Virtual Press Conference, Ewan McGregor, Moses Ingram, and director Deborah Chow got candid about what’s on the horizon for the beloved titular character, and some new additions like Ingram’s Inquisitor Reva and TV Insider was in attendance.

Described by Ingram as “dangerous” and “edgy,” she was immediately attracted to the project from the early scripts she received. But how is her character bringing that to the series? “I don’t even know if it’s just Reva,” Ingram, who made her breakthrough performance in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, tells TV Insider.

(Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney+)

“The cat and mouse of it all and so many moving parts in it and the places that we are and the people that are involved,” she says, add to the overall tone. “Even the text, it just felt very muddy in a way that I really enjoyed.”

Adding some context to what Ingram is teasing, Chow paints a more elaborate picture, explaining it “was quite interesting not only to start with Obi-Wan’s character… but also starting in a period in a timeline that’s quite dark. [It] actually gave us a very interesting starting place for the series.”

The show, set about 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, finds Obi-Wan on the run as he evades capture. Jedi are being hunted and Obi-Wan’s at the top of the list. “I think with the character of Kenobi, for me, he’s always felt like there’s so much warmth, there’s so much compassion, humor, that it is kind of a character of light and hope,” Chow notes. “It was interesting for us to try to keep the balance of that, of the darkness but also still maintaining the hope coming from the character.”

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Just as there’s a dark side and a light side, McGregor agrees with Chow’s estimation, noting, “it all comes from Alec Guinness.” The actor explains that the performer who played Obi-Wan in the original trilogy “had this wit behind his eyes all the time. He had a twinkle, I think, in his eyes. That’s in the writing, but also… I always try and think of him and… hear him saying the lines.”

That’s part of what pleases McGregor about the series as he continues, “that’s why I think the writing was so, so good in this because right from the word go, all of his dialogue felt to me like it could have been Alec Guinness saying it and then I knew we were on the right path, at least with him. I think he’s got a wit to him.”

So expect some dark, edgy, and dangerous moments as the warm-natured Obi-Wan Kenobi embarks on his latest onscreen adventure in Disney+‘s Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Series Premiere, Friday, May 27, Disney+