Ewan McGregor Addresses Star Wars Prequel Backlash

Public opinion regarding George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel trilogy has shifted significantly over the years. Spin-offs, sequels, and expanded media helped soften feelings toward the stories of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman). When the films first arrived in theaters, however, audiences and reviewers were far less forgiving.

Early criticism targeted the wooden dialogue, convoluted plots, and Lucas’s solo scriptwriting, which faced harsher scrutiny than the original trilogy ever did. Ewan McGregor still enjoyed working on the films despite their turbulent debut, even as he worked through the harsh reaction.

Joining such a massive production represented a major career shift for the actor. McGregor reflected on that choice in an interview with The Independent.

“Deciding to do [Star Wars] was hard,” McGregor said. “Because at that point I was already doing these [artier] films in the early part of my career. I didn’t think of myself as being somebody in that kind of thing. And then the closer I got to it, the more I wanted to do it. But still, I did them, and they were hard because they’re not indie.”

Earlier in his career, McGregor appeared in Bill Forsyth’s 1994 film Being Human and earned international acclaim in the 1996 British black comedy Trainspotting. Stepping into a massive science fiction franchise brought an entirely different level of scrutiny.

McGregor found the initial backlash difficult to process before shifting his perspective on public opinion.

“I did them, and I enjoyed them, and they were not well received. And so that was weird and hard – to sort of put yourself into something like that, and then for them to be really dragged through the mud by the critics. But I learned a lot about not giving a shit.”

Letting go of external validation helped McGregor move forward. Later, after meeting fans who grew up watching and loving the films, he discovered how much the prequels meant to a younger generation.

McGregor’s turn as Obi-Wan remains widely praised as a highlight of the trilogy. Excitement surged when Disney confirmed his return for the Disney Plus TV series Kenobi, following the Jedi Master in the years after Revenge of the Sith. Whether the similarly divisive sequel trilogy experiences a comparable reevaluation remains to be seen.

Source: Polygon