If we recently talked about The Mandalorian and you liked it, don’t go away, because today we want to talk about The incredible cast of the long-awaited series: Obi-Wan Kenobi! 😉
Obi-Wan Kenobi brings back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their iconic Star Wars roles, but the series also boasts a solid cast beyond its central stars. There’s also Moses Ingram as the menacing new villain Reva and Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, as well as a few surprises that fans will be talking about long after the credits roll.
These are the Obi-Wan Kenobi actors you should know and where you’ve seen them before!
You already know Ewan McGregor. But in case you missed the Star Wars prequels trilogy: Episodes I, II, and III, McGregor first played the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1999’s The Phantom Menace and reprised his role in Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
Before Star Wars, he was best known for his character of Mark Renton in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. More recently, he has been seen as an adult Danny Torrance in Stephen King’s sequel Doctor Sleep and as the villainous Black Mask in DC’s Birds of Prey. McGregor will next star in Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s Pinocchio adaptation, due out in December.
Although he began his acting career in the 1990s with very minor roles in John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness and Sofia Coppola’s Suicide Virgins, 2002’s Attack of the Clones was Hayden Christensen’s big break.
In the last two prequels, he plays Anakin Skywalker, the conflicted young Jedi Knight who is destined to become the evil Darth Vader. Much had already been said about his performance in those films, so we won’t elaborate further here. But if you want to see Christensen’s best performance of all time, you have to see him as disgraced investigative reporter Stephen Glass in the 2003 biopic Shattered Glass!
Joel Edgerton, who originally played the younger version of Uncle Owen in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, gets a bit more of a starring role in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
By the end of the first episode, it’s clear that he has no love for the Jedi and cares deeply for Luke’s safety, even if it means keeping the truth from the boy. And we also learn that Uncle Owen is a tough guy, standing up to an angry Inquisitor to reluctantly protect Obi-Wan’s life. If you want to see Edgerton is one of his best roles outside of Star Wars, check out the 2017 psychological horror film It Comes at Night.
Also returning is Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru. She first played this role in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
What the hell, did Obi-Wan Kenobi kill Rupert Friend’s Grand Inquisitor in the second episode? Fans will likely continue to speculate about it for a while, especially since it could be a continuity error that we won’t get into. But it would be a shame not to have more of Friend’s menacing performance as the leader of the Inquisitors.
Though he’s almost unrecognizable under all that makeup, you’ve probably seen Friend many times outside of Star Wars. He was a regular on the political thriller series Homeland, co-starred in the Willem Dafoe vehicle At Eternity’s Gate, and just starred in Anatomy of a Scandal
Moses Ingram is an absolute force as the ruthless Reva, an Imperial inquisitor who isn’t afraid to undermine and stab her boss to get what she wants.
While the series is ostensibly about the epic rematch between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, it also focuses on this dark character, who has a hidden past with the Jedi that will likely be uncovered in upcoming episodes. Ingram herself is relatively new, but you’ve seen her in The Queen’s Gambit, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and this year’s Michael Bay action film, Ambulance.
Sung Kang has a new family in Obi-Wan Kenobi, one even more dysfunctional than the one at the center of the other major franchise that graces his filmography.
While you may know him best as Han Lue from the Fast & Furious movies, he’s covered in heavy makeup to play the Fifth Brother, an Inquisitor who first appeared in the Rebels animated series. Following the thread of Stephen King connections, you can also see Kang in a recurring role in Apple’s adaptation of The Lisey Story.
Obi-Wan isn’t the only Jedi! There’s also Nari, a fugitive who desperately needs the Jedi Master’s help, but ultimately doesn’t get it. The last time we see Nari, he has been strung up over the town square.
Nari is played by Benny Safdie, with the directing duo with his older brother Josh. They together wrote Uncut Gems.
Surprise!! You probably thought the series was going to spend a little time showing us who Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely) was as a 10-year-old boy bored out of his mind on that farm on Tatooine, but in reality, Obi-Wan Kenobi is more interested in his twin sister, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan!
The rambunctious little Leia is the reason Obi-Wan is forced to come out of hiding, setting in motion the events of the series. Leia is played by the adorable Vivien Lyra Blair, who recently played little Eleanor Roosevelt in the Apple series The First Lady. Her next appearance will be in the adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Boogeyman.
You will also be glad to find that Jimmy Smits returns as the Senator Bail Organa, with Simone Kessell as his wife, Breha Organa, who are the adoptive parents of Princess Leia.
What do you think? Are you already watching the series? What are you waiting for!?
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