With the upcoming and long-awaited release of the limited Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus, it seems like a good time to reminisce about all the moments in Star Wars that have led to this moment. It's fascinating to look back at the history of the character, particularly in the prequel trilogy, to see how different aspects of him have evolved as his story progressed. Naturally, the most notable moments all involve hair.
Ewan McGregor, who will soon star in the Star Wars series by way of his much-anticipated return to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, appears to be sharing in some of that nostalgic sentiment. With the show's premiere fast approaching, the veteran actor has been making the rounds with the press, presumably answering the same questions over and over like he lost a basketball game to the Monstars. But luckily, at least one source has seen fit to mix things up.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly as part of their Obi-Wan Kenobi cover story, McGregor faced arguably the most significant question of his career: what's up with the hair? Apparently, McGregor's short hairstyle seen during his origin story in The Phantom Menace wasn't always natural. So when he was called back to do some reshoots later on and wasn't able to cut his hair, he met the bane of his existence: a short wig. "If you've got a wig and it's long hair, you can disguise the fact that it's a wig," he explained about the experience, "but when it's a short hair wig, it's a nightmare. I've seen some clips of both episode 1 and the reshoots from episode 2 where you're like, 'Are you kidding me?'" Looks like the life of a Jedi apprentice is tough for a number of reasons. Jedi hairdressers must make bank.
Moving on to Attack of the Clones, McGregor seemed to share the prevailing audience view of his new hairstyle (namely, its arguably unfortunate disco inspiration, and not of the cool Disco Elysium kind). "We called it the sort of Jedi mullet," he reminisced. "It could be in some second-degree way a little cool, but not really. It was very mullet-y and sort of quite inspired pretty much by the Bee Gees, I think really. Jedi Bee Gees. So yeah, I didn't like it very much, but I guess there's some sort of progression." Strangely, he didn't have many outspoken opinions on his hairstyle in Revenge of the Sith, which is probably as close as he'll get to a glowing endorsement. But he did mention how the plan was to bridge the gap between him and inspirational Star Wars legend Alec Guinness, who sported a similar style in A New Hope. "I think the episode 2 haircut was meant to be like warrior, and the episode 3 haircut was meant to be more master, teacher," McGregor said.
Interestingly enough, it seems as though his hairstyle in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series might be taking a step back from that attempt to connect to Guinness. But it appears to be an intentional storytelling device. "It's a longer haircut," McGregor explained. "I think it's a man who's been not looking after himself so much, and I wanted a much more sort of unkempt look where Obi-Wan starts at the beginning of that story, he's pretty hopeless. He's without hope, he's without faith and he wanted this sort of hair and beard to represent that. So it's much more less groomed and longer."
So that's McGregor's take on Obi-Wan's evolving hairstyle over the years. Riveting stuff, isn't it? Sounds like the kind of conversation one would overhear in an intergalactic barbershop. Hey, if the folks behind Star Wars want to finally start shaking things up, there's an idea right there.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on May 25th, 2022, on Disney Plus.
Source: Entertainment Weekly