Star Wars’ move into making television series was “organic” for them, says the head of its production company.
Rosario Dawson, Pedro Pascal, Ewan McGregor and Gabriel Luna are gracing the Star Wars June 2022 cover of Vanity Fair
Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm believes their venture into shows on Disney Plus - which began with hits like ‘The Mandalorian’ and now include many more, such as the upcoming 'Obi-Wan' and the as-yet-unreleased 'Andor' starring Gabriel Luna, reprising his 'Rogue One' character Cassian Andor - is a natural follow-on as the franchise’s creator George Lucas “was serialising his storytelling”.
She told Vanity Fair magazine for their June cover story: "What's unique about Star Wars is that we're one story, basically. George was always dealing with episodes. Ironically, he was serialising his storytelling. He was influenced by Flash Gordon and cliff-hangers on Saturdays at movie theaters. All of that informed what the DNA of Star Wars is, which is why I think it's just organic that we made the transition into television."
Ewan McGregor - who will reprise his Obi-Wan Kenobi in the upcoming series after first playing the role in the prequel trilogy released between 1999 and 2005 - joked that 11-month-old son Laurie “has been born into this massive 'Star Wars' family” while confirming the rumours that his wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead is due to star alongside Rosario Dawson in the upcoming series ‘Ahsoka’.
The 51-year-old actor told the magazine: "My partner, Mary, is doing that 'Star Wars' series with Rosario and she's about to start. Our little boy has been born into this massive 'Star Wars' family. He will either embrace it or really go the other way. I don't know. Maybe he'll be a Trekkie!"
Ewan will be joined by Hayden Christensen - who played the young version of Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker - who explained how he spoke at length with showrunner Deborah Chow about the iconic baddie’s “power and vulnerability”
The 41-year-old actor told the outlet: "This is a character that has come to define my life in so many ways. "I was originally hired to play a very specific portion of this person's life. Most of my work was with Anakin. And now I get to come back and explore the character of Darth Vader. A lot of my conversations with Deborah were about wanting to convey this feeling of strength, but also coupled with imprisonment. There is this power and vulnerability, and I think that's an interesting space to explore."
Read the full cover story "The Rebellion Will Be Televised," by Anthony Breznican in Vanity Fair's June issue and on VanityFair.com
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