One of the strangest things fans will have to adapt to while watching Obi-Wan Kenobi is hearing Obi-Wan Kenobi sound like Ewan McGregor. That statement might sound bizarre at first. After all, McGregor’s performance remains one of the prequel trilogy’s legimately great features amidst its many, many storytelling problems. But since Revenge of the Sith, it hasn’t been McGregor who fans are accustomed to hearing as Obi-Wan. That honor goes to voice actor James Arnold Taylor, whose work in various Star Wars media, specifically Star Wars: The Clone Wars, fleshed out the character more concretely than anything seen in the films.
Which raises the big question: will Obi-Wan Kenobi go the extra mile and give Taylor a live-action cameo?
Though Anakin Skywalker was the prequel trilogy’s protagonist, in retrospect, it was Obi-Wan who had the most coherent arc. McGregor perfectly captured what Sir Alec Guinness looked and sounded like, gradually transitioning across George Lucas’ three films from impatient Padawan to experienced mentor figure — a role he successfully pulled off with equal parts wisdom and dry wit. True, the prequels never really captured the legitimacy of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s brotherly bond. But you could see why Obi-Wan was someone Anakin once looked up to, even though we knew their relationship was destined to end in tragedy and endless “high ground” memes. But James Arnold Taylor’s voicework took things a step further.
Taylor’s Obi-Wan affiliation actually pre-dates the 2008 CGI series, first voicing him in the Genndy Tartakovsky-directed 2003 series Star Wars: Clone Wars. The first animated attempt by Lucasfilm to chronicle events between Episode II and Episode III, Clone Wars‘ short micro-episode format often meant that voicework took a back seat to stylized action set pieces. Yet even there, Taylor’s performance stood out. Blending McGregor and Guinness’ vernaculars together, Taylor gave us an Obi-Wan in transition: a brave, powerful warrior still struggling to educate his Padawan on and off the battlefield. By teasing facets of Obi-Wan’s life previously unexplored, Clone Wars showed how animation could generate meaningful depth within the prequel timeline where the actual movies underwhelmed viewers.
It was with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, however, that Taylor’s Obi-Wan work cemented itself as genre-defining. Thanks to a mutli-episode arc anthology structure, The Clone Wars provided even more room to deepen our understanding of prequel-era characters across countless battles and polically-charged conflicts. Which meant we got to see Obi-Wan evolve not only physically, but emotionally too. He was as much a mythic figure of old — aJedi who commanded the respect of elders and younglings alike — as a fun source of humor, leaning into McGregor’s sass by having Obi-Wan verbally taunt and troll adversaries whenever possible. These moments made for great buddy-comedy banter with a slightly more well-rounded Anakin, truly exploring their bond as one forged of camaraderie and mutual respect. The Master/Student dynamic fans longed to see from these characters on the big screen.
But The Clone Wars also explored Obi-Wan’s heart, delving into the hard choices and sacrifices he made in the name of the Jedi code. We learned about his romantic history with Duchess Satine of Mandalore, whose pacifist stances frustrated Obi-Wan even as he valliantely defended her from all manner of threats. We saw him go undercover as his own killer to protect the Chancellor, albeit at the cost of violating Anakin’s trust. And we saw him suffer, thanks to Darth Maul’s return post-Phantom Menace. Where their rivalry was once limited to a single duel, The Clone Wars ballooned it into a galactic Machiavellian vengeance quest of Maul’s design, sowing chaos and amassing power just to punish Kenobi for depriving him of status all those years ago. A rivalry Lucasfilm would push all the way into its follow-up series Star Wars Rebels, concluding with a fantastic, yet melancholic, western-inspired showdown between the two on Tatooine.
It’s unclear how much of Obi-Wan’s animated arc will tie into Obi-Wan Kenobi, save for the live-action debut of Rebels’ Inquisitors. But the fact that these stories are now recognized as essential Star Wars lore is a testament to The Clone Wars’ writing and performances; by this point, Taylor is as synonymous with Obi-Wan as McGregor and Guinness. Thus, it makes sense for Obi-Wan Kenobi to pay tribute to Taylor by letting him play a background or supporting character whom Obi-Wan runs into during his new adventure.
This kind of fan-service isn’t radical, nor unprecedented. Taylor’s Clone Wars co-star Matt Lanter made a brief appearance as a New Republic guard in The Mandalorian, and Taylor himself played an Imperial Captain in actor/impressionist Jamie Costa’s 2019 fan-film KENOBI. The latter was your typical sneering administrator role, but Taylor is clearly having fun chewing the scenery as a villain, so delivering a similar performance in Obi-Wan Kenobi would hardly feel out of his element.
McGregor’s return to Star Wars is something fans have waited seventeen years to see, a testament to what he pulled off with the prequel triloogy’s script material. But without animated shows like The Clone Wars, our current retroactive appreciation for that trilogy likely wouldn’t have happened. The perfect way to honor The Clone Wars‘ legacy, then, would be to see the original young Obi-Wan interact with his animated foil, however briefly, and maybe even greet each other with a mutual “Hello there.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi’s first two episodes premiere on Disney+ May 27.
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