Kumail Nanjiani opened up about working playing a unique Star Wars character in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
Disney Plus has a whole slew of Star Wars shows in the pipeline, including one focusing on Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. Set a decade or so after Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the series is set to focus on the Jedi Master observing Luke Skywalker from a distance on Tatooine and running into his old apprentice. Joining McGregor is an all-star cast, which includes Kumail Nanjiani in an undisclosed role.
In a chat with Rolling Stone to discuss his time on Eternals, Kumail Nanjiani opened up about working on the Obi-Wan Kenobi series and revealed how he got the role. Nanjiani continued by discussing how she spoke with director Deborah Chow who pitched him a “new type of Star Wars character”.
“My agents called me and it was the whole group of them that never call you. And I was like, ‘OK, this is either amazing news or really awful news.’ And they’re like, ‘They want you to play a part in Obi-Wan, and apparently it’s substantial.’ So then I talked to [director Deborah Chow] and we had a great conversation. And the character sounded awesome — I was so excited about this character. We haven’t seen this exact thing in Star Wars yet. This is like a new version of a type of Star Wars character we’ve seen before.”
Kumail Nanjiani continued by discussing how Chow kept on trying to sell him the undisclosed role. The Silicon Valley star didn’t reveal any details surrounding his Star Wars character, though he did touch upon how the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was his first post-pandemic job.
“And she was trying to sell me on it. And I was like, ‘I was gonna do it before the conversation!’ It was kind of perfect. Right after quarantine I got to do a job, in town, and it was in Star Wars. It was just the most joyful first job back possible. I didn’t know how I could beat the experience I’ve had, which is a Marvel movie with Chloé Zhao, who is amazing, and maybe the greatest cast ever assembled, and then have Obi-Wan as the next thing, with another really fantastic cast. Ewan McGregor! Really? I don’t know where I go from there. [Laughs.] And so I decided to walk into the middle of the woods.”
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series has been described as a special event series for Disney Plus, and details on the upcoming Star Wars series are being hidden away on Tatooine. Still, we do know the series will feature a rematch between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith and before their final confrontation in A New Hope.
Directed by Deborah Chow from Joby Harold’s scripts, Obi-Wan Kenobi stars Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is expected to hit Disney Plus in 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming Star Wars series, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Rolling Stone
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