Obi-Wan Kenobi hired numerous Star Wars superfans to play extras. The upcoming series will bring back Ewan McGregor as the legendary Jedi, filling in the gaps in the years before audiences met Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan in A New Hope. Set to debut on Disney+, Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on the streaming service next year.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will see McGregor return as the titular Jedi after almost two decades away from the role – not counting his brief voiceover performance in Rise of Skywalker. Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the series will follow Obi-Wan’s time in exile following the downfall of the Jedi Order at the hands of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Additionally, the series will also bring back Hayden Christensen as the aforementioned Darth Vader, seemingly indicating that the battle of the heroes on Mustafar in Episode III was not the last time they saw one another prior to their meeting on the first Death Star.
Not only will Obi-Wan Kenobi bring in McGregor and Christensen, but it will also bring in numerous die-hard Star Wars fans to fill out its ranks as well. In fact, during a recent appearance on Variety's Just for Variety podcast, star Maya Erskine addressed the on-set experience of making Obi-Wan Kenobi and confirmed that numerous Star Wars superfans had been cast as extras in the project. Erskine said:
The extras were incredible on the set, and a lot of them were mega Star Wars fans. One guy, he was so nice and he lifted up his sleeves and had Star Wars tattoos over his whole body. And they build droids. There are lot of Star Wars fans that build droids, and then the production companies will rent [them] from the fans.
Based on Erskine’s remarks about Obi-Wan Kenobi, it would seem that these are not the average Star Wars fans. These are Star Wars fans who get Star Wars tattoos all over their bodies and create screen-ready droids that are so detailed that the actual production companies opt to use them instead of creating their own. That said, Erskine herself admitted that she is a massive Star Wars fan, so it seems likely that the Pen15 star was right at home on the set.
Of course, there’s an argument to be made that none of this is very surprising. Star Wars is one of the largest and most rabid fan subcultures in all of media, so there is clearly no shortage of Star Wars enthusiasts to bring into a series like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Moreover, this isn’t the first time that Star Wars has dipped into the fandom for talent, as The Mandalorian similarly cast a number of Star Wars fans as extras as well. The fans who appeared in Obi-Wan Kenobi may already have the inside scoop on the series, but the rest of the Star Wars fandom will have to wait until the series premieres on Disney+ next year to see it in full.
Source: Variety
