Actor Joel Edgerton has been promoting his new sci-fi thriller show Dark Matter on Apple TV+. In doing so, he is inevitably asked about his time playing Owen Lars in the Star Wars franchise. Edgerton had some fun and interesting insights about the character.
Joel Edgerton jokingly shoots down Star Wars spinoff series for Uncle Owen
Joel Edgerton was a practically unknown actor before he was cast to play Owen Lars, Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother and the eventual caretaker of Luke Skywalker in Attack of the Clones. He was also in the beautiful final scene of Revenge of the Sith as he and Beru Lars gazed out at the twin suns of Tatooine while holding baby Luke.
Since then, Edgerton has had a varied and interesting acting career. He has appeared in films like The Great Gatsby and, most recently, the TV show Dark Matter. However, he did reprise the role of Uncle Owen in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. The actor discussed his entire career, including his time in the Star Wars universe, in an article for Inverse.
When asked, presumably tongue-in-cheek, about the possibility of a spinoff series for Uncle Owen, Edgerton joked, "Imagine how much of a snooze fest it could possibly be if they just made a standalone series about Uncle Owen. It’d be more like a nature documentary as he goes out and farms moisture."
Edgerton is right, that show would probably not be the most thrilling. However, he did discuss the fact that he was happy to add a bit more complexity and humanity to the character of Uncle Owen in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
"I thought there were possibilities there to explore and I loved the opportunity to add an extra dimension of sorts to Uncle Owen."Joel Edgerton
In that series, we see Owen and Beru defend Luke from the Inquisitor Reva who is intent on killing the child as a form of revenge on Anakin. Edgerton said, "Everyone always saw Uncle Owen as just the uncle that won't let Luke do something — which he is — but to understand why and to see his fierce protectiveness, I think is a nice way of humanizing him even more." He also added, “That was my mission. I was like, if I'm going to come back, I want to do something that doesn't disrupt the flow of the way that the audience views that world and the characters, but I want to participate in a way that feels good. So I was really happy with the outcome.”
It was cool to see a different side of Uncle Owen in the series, and it certainly makes his and Beru's death in A New Hope all the more tragic when we know how much they loved Luke and sought to protect him.
It seems unlikely that we will see Edgerton reprise the role yet again, but never say never. No matter what, he will always have a small but important place in the Star Wars universe, and it is great to see that his career is still thriving.