What’s a Star Wars film without Obi-Wan Kenobi? The wise Jedi Master has been a part of every Star Wars film — in some form or fashion — from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, all the way through to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens…
Actor Ewan McGregor — who portrayed a younger version of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Prequel Trilogy — was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel, Thursday night (Jan. 28), and told Kimmel about his time recording the Obi-Wan voice-over for Rey’s Force vision in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Check out the interview:
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Although he was obviously joking about waiting by the phone for two years, I do love how McGregor seems to be excited to be involved with Star Wars again. Perhaps — and hopefully — Disney is taking notice of how amazing the actor would be for an Obi-Wan standalone Star Wars film, and we will get an announcement about that film, in the near future.
It’s also extremely fascinating how Abrams spliced McGregor’s and Sir Alec Guinness’ voices together, to create one vision for Rey:
"“The line is, “Rey, these are your first steps.” But they got Alec Guinness to do “Rey,” which is extraordinary because he’s not alive anymore. They got a line of him as Obi-Wan Kenobi saying “afraid,” and cut the A and the D off. So Alec Guinness is saying “Rey,” and I’m saying, “These are your first steps.” ”"
McGregor and Guinness weren’t the only Obi-Wan actors to be involved with The Force Awakens, as Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice-actor James Arnold Taylor was asked to record lines as Obi-Wan for Rey’s Force vision, before having them scrapped in favor of the McGregor/Guinness splice.
With the long-running success of The Clone Wars, Taylor’s voice is every bit a part of the icon and legend of Obi-Wan, as both live-action actors are.