TV Recap - What We Learned from the "Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return" Behind-the-Scenes Special on Disney+

This morning in honor of Disney+ Day, the new behind-the-scenes documentary special Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi’s Return was released on the popular streaming service.

This engrossing special gave us an insightful look at the live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, starring actor Ewan McGregor as the fabled Jedi Master. In the bullet-point list below, I’ve enumerated the most fascinating tidbits and interesting factoids to come out of Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi’s Return.

The special opens with interview footage of Sir Alec Guinness discussing the challenges of working on the original Star Wars film. “I’ve never done anything remotely to do with science fiction before.”
Guinness describes Obi-Wan Kenobi as a wise, monk-like samurai warrior character.
We then see actor Ewan McGregor watching Guinness’s performance as Obi-Wan on the “Volume” screen. He talks about the first time he and his brother went to the big city to see Star Wars as children.
McGregor says he admired Alec Guinnes as a kid, and decided to become an actor at age 9.
When he was first cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, he studied Guinness’s performances as a young man. “This series is special because it’s a character that I loved playing back in the day, and I get to do it again.”
We then see production begin on the first day of shooting Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+. On set, Ewan gives a brief welcome speech to the cast and crew.
The next section of the documentary introduces Deborah Chow as director. “We’re trying to answer the question of how do we get from the tragedy of Revenge of the Sith to the calm and peace of A New Hope.”
“I can’t copy what George [Lucas] did. I’m not George,” says Chow. “I need to tell my own story.”
McGregor talks about how he didn’t think he was right for the Obi-Wan part in the prequels at first, but he did want it. We see some audition footage from the mid-90s and the moment when he first meets George Lucas. In archival footage, Lucas explains Obi-Wan’s arc from The Phantom Menace to Ewan McGregor.
We see Ewan getting a tour of the set from Lucas and selecting his own lightsaber for Episode I.
Ewan talks about getting back into character for Obi-Wan Kenobi: “As soon as I put his clothes on and got on set here, it didn’t take very long to feel comfortable again.”
We see how a Gonk droid is operated by a little person inside the costume.
McGregor says he always thought it would be interesting to show Obi-Wan in defeat– “a man who’s broken and lost his faith, and how does he get it back?”
The production codename for Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi was “Joshua Tree.”
We see behind-the-scenes footage of shooting with the inquisitors on location. Writer Joby Harold is impressed that the set and characters ended up looking so close to how he had envisioned them.

Rupert Friend talks about playing the Grand Inquisitor and why he found the character fascinating: “There’s way more to this guy than just a badass with a double-edged lightsaber.”
Chow talks about developing the story of Reva. Actress Moses Ingram says she never thought she could be in Star Wars: “It blew my mind. It’s cool to be nice, but it’s also cool to see different people inhabit villains.”
We see part of Ingram’s audition for the Reva role. “Moses had the strength and intelligence,” says Chow.
The next part is about Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse reprising their roles as Owen and Beru Lars. “It was amazing to get both of them to come back,” says Chow. “Everyone is excited to be here,” says Piesse.
Ewan talks about the secret that this was an Obi-Wan and Leia story. “One of the things that really drew me to the project was the father/daughter story of it all,” says Chow, whose father introduced her to film appreciation.
Chow also says she grew up on the Muppets and leans toward things that are weird and wonderful. We see tests of some of the animatronic masks for alien creatures in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
We see actor Zach Braff performing his role as the voice of Freck while a technician operates the remote-controlled mask.
Chow talks about creating the world of Daiyu and how it was inspired by real-life cities like Hong Kong.
Kumail Nanjiani talks about how awesome it was to get Force-pushed into a wall, and how he sees the character of Haja as “theatrical” because of his limited knowledge about real Jedi.
Indira Varma and O’Shea Jackson Jr. talk about their roles as Tala Durith and Kawlan Roken on the show. “It’s a dream come true,” says Varma. “It’s the best job I ever had,” says Jackson with a laugh.
Jackson says Star Wars is a big part of his life so he has to stop himself from freaking out on set.

We see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reunited on the Volume. They hug and Ewan says, “Hello there.” They watch clips from the prequels together.
Hayden talks about meeting fans who express what the Star Wars films mean to them. We see footage of him getting dressed in his Jedi Padawan robes from Attack of the Clones, then for the Obi-Wan Kenobi shoot. He remarks on his relationship with Ewan and how much of an impact the older actor had on him. “Deborah and I both felt a huge responsibility for this character,” says Christensen. “We knew we had to get this right.”
Hayden’s first day on set was for Obi-Wan’s vision in the desert. Ewan insisted on staying to see Hayden’s first take, though he had already wrapped for the day. “It was a very emotional thing to reunite,” says Christensen.
We see a lightsaber fight training session between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. “The flashbacks to the prequels really brought something special out of both of them,” says Deborah Chow.
Both Ewan and Hayden were wearing dots on their faces during the flashback sequence for de-aging work.
Ewan talks about how a huge crowd gathered on set to see Darth Vader’s first appearance.
Stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio talks about how Deborah Chow wanted to make Vader’s first showdown with Obi-Wan in the series like a horror movie: “He’s always hunting you down.” Ewan comments that he was struck with absolute fear the first time Vader was following him.
We see Hayden getting dressed in the burned Vader skin for his bacta tank scene, then behind-the-scenes footage of shooting that scene.
We also get some very cool BTS footage of the hallway-flooding scene from Fortress Inquisitorius.

There’s more footage from the filming of the original Star Wars, this time focusing on the character of Princess Leia. Deborah Chow says she’s “one of the best female characters that’s ever been written. She had this multidimensional characterization that was just wonderful.” She adds that she also wanted this series to be about highlighting Leia’s importance in the saga.
Chow talks about the child actor Vivien Lyra Blair, and how she had the essence of Leia. “Viven is brilliant to work with. She had all the wit and cheek of Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia,” agrees Ewan McGregor. We see footage from Ewan and Vivien’s screen test together over Zoom.
Apparently Vivien Lyra Blair loves droids more than anything in the world.
“I like to believe there’s always a little bit of Anakin still in there,” says Hayden Christensen as he’s getting into his burned-skin makeup.
Chow talks about the fight choreography for the final duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in the series: “As the fight goes on, nobody can get the high ground.”
We see concept artist Doug Chiang demonstrating the “split” Vader mask for the final duel. “It’s a heartbreaking scene,” says Christensen.
There’s behind-the-scenes footage of actor Ian McDiarmid shooting his scene as Emperor Palpatine in front of a blue screen, and Deborah Chow directing him remotely.
“It was so amazing to work with Liam [Neeson] again,” says Ewan McGregor about Qui-Gon’s cameo appearance. We see BTS footage of this as well. Neeson describes how Chow got him on board by describing Obi-Wan’s arc in the series.
We see the final day of shooting Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is the scene of Owen and Beru looking for Luke in the desert. The crew cheers when they wrap production, and Deborah Chow gives a thank-you speech. Ewan hands out cigars and says “Disney won’t like this very much, will they?” calling them Death Sticks with a laugh.
We see more footage from the production of the Original Trilogy and hear Ewan McGregor ruminating on the scope of the Star Wars franchise. “It’s global, it’s international, it’s all over the world.”
“Star Wars has this staying power because we learn about the world through it. It’s a mythology, and it’s exciting to see the saga continue,” says Hayden Christensen.
“I feel hugely fortunate to be able to do this, but also a huge responsibility to do it right,” concludes Deborah Chow.
During the credits, we see clips from Star Wars Celebration 2022 in Anaheim, including the world premiere of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi where the cast appeared on stage to huge applause.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi’s Return is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+.