Star Wars: The Phantom Menace actor Ewan McGregor has opened up about his return to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the upcoming Disney Plus Star Wars series.

McGregor played Kenobi through the franchise’s prequel trilogy and has always maintained that he wouldn’t return, so fans were surprised when he confirmed in August of 2019 that he would be returning after all.

Speaking to Eddie Izzard, who’s currently attempting to run 31 Marathons and perform 31 Live Shows in 31 days to raise money for charity (via Reddit), McGregor revealed that he’s incredibly enthusiastic over the idea of reprising his role as the Jedi Master.

“It’ll just be great to [play Obi-Wan] again,” he said. “I did my last one in 2003, and it’s such a long time ago. The idea of doing it again is more exciting even than it was then, I think. I’m thrilled to get a chance to play him again.”

He also spoke about his displeasure filming the prequels in blue and green screen, saying the new Mandalorian’s Stagecraft technology was just another reason for his desire to return.

“It’ll be interesting to do. Probably not so much blue screen and green screen, which I always find quite tedious to spend week after week in a blue environment or a green environment. But this should certainly be much more interesting for us.”

McGregor says that there’s a story to be told between the gap between Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars 77′ film, specifically during the time Obi-Wan was in self-imposed exile on Tatooine. 

“The idea of doing it now is even more exciting than it was then, I think,” McGregor said. “I’m thrilled to get a chance to play him again. I’ve always felt that there was a story about him between [the prequels] and Alec Guinness’s [movie], and yeah, that’s what we’re going to do.”

The actor officially confirmed the shooting location of Obi-Wan Kenobi and shed some light on its current status.

“We start making it in the late spring, and I think we’re going to be shooting it here in L.A.,” McGregor said. “It’s so funny – every week there’s a new report…there’s another tabloid expose that we’re shooting it in some strange (Bizarre) town somewhere. Then we’re meant to be making it in Boston, then, ‘No, it wasn’t Boston, it was Boston, England.’ But we’re not. We’re shooting it in L.A.” 

Along with McGregor reprising the swashbuckling Obi-Wan role, Obi-Wan Kenobi also brings back Hayden Christensen as the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader. The series will be the third live-action show spun-off from the Star Wars universe, following Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and a Rogue One (Andor) prequel series. The story is set several years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) writes the series, with Deborah Chow directing and executive producing alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Hossein Amini, and Tracey Seaward. 

There remains no official release date announced for the Disney+ series. 

Special thanks to Val Trichkov of StarWarsNewsNet for helping me get the momentum and energy required to write again. “You have been – and always shall be – my friend.”