Ewan McGregor Wants Back in the Jedi Robes: 'I Really Would Like to Do It Again'
Ewan McGregor told an Edinburgh International Film Festival audience on Friday that he wants to play Obi-Wan Kenobi again. "I hope so! I really would like to do it again because at the end of the series, we walked off at the end," he said during an "In Conversation" session held at 17:00 on 14 August 2026 (The Hollywood Reporter).
McGregor first took the role in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005, playing a younger version of the Jedi master originated by Alec Guinness in the original films. He returned for the 2022 Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, set between the prequels and the original trilogy.
That return, McGregor said, caught him off guard. He told the Edinburgh crowd he was surprised by the warmth of the fan reaction, recounting being cheered by thousands at the series premiere. He relished the chance to step back into the part — and found it easier this time. In the prequels, he said, he had been "trying really hard" to "be a young Alec Guinness." By the time the TV series rolled around, McGregor was closer in age to Guinness when Guinness played the role, and the fit felt more natural.
The path there was not always smooth. McGregor said he "learned a lot about not giving a shit" after the prequels were "dragged through the mud" by critics and fans on initial release. The intervening years — and the shifting cultural reassessment of those films — appear to have softened the ground.
The Edinburgh session was part of the festival's expanded 2026 edition, which also featured filmmaker Christine Vachon and actor Kenneth Branagh among its marquee lineup (The Hollywood Reporter). McGregor spoke on Friday afternoon, shortly before a party at Edinburgh's Central Hall celebrating the 30th anniversary of Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), hosted by Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle. A separate anniversary screening with live cast and crew commentary was also scheduled at Leith Theatre as part of the festival programme (Edinburgh Festival City).
Star Wars was not McGregor's only emotional moment on stage. He became visibly emotional and paused to hold back tears while discussing Bleeding Love (2023), a film based on a story by his daughter Clara McGregor, in which he plays her onscreen father. Clara was 30 at the time of the discussion.
McGregor has voiced openness about returning to Obi-Wan before — The Hollywood Reporter noted a similar expression of interest during a 2015 festival appearance. No new Star Wars project involving McGregor has been announced. For now, the interest runs one way: from the actor to the audience, not yet from a studio to a calendar.
