Despite some behind-the-scenes drama at the beginning of the year, the Obi-Wan series starring Ewan McGregor appears to be moving along after a brief moment where it looked like Disney+ was ready to place the Star Wars show in carbonite.
In a new interview with ACE Universe, McGregor revealed that he’s looking forward to making the show, which he says will use the revolutionary StageCraft technology that was developed for The Mandalorian. The brand new filming technique uses a room encompassed in LED screens for a more immersive and easy-to-change environment. The tech was recently showcased on Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, which offers an in-depth look at the production on the hit Disney+ series, and apparently, McGregor is a huge fan. Especially after what he went through while making the Star Wars prequels. Via Forbes:
“I think I am going to enjoy it much more…(the prequels) were all blue screen and green screen and it was hard to imagine, but nowadays I think things have moved on so much, and I think a lot of what you see is gonna be what we see on the set,” McGregor said about the new series. “I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen…it’s pretty amazing. It makes you feel like you’re in the place, it’s going to feel realer for us as actors. And I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show.”
While the Star Wars prequels boasted some groundbreaking technology of their own thanks to George Lucas’ constant drive to push the limits of visual effects, the films were also famously created in a massively empty green screen room, which some of the actors did not enjoy. It’s also why, if you re-watch the prequels, particularly the last two, you’ll notice a lot of scenes involve characters just walking and talking inside clearly CGI backgrounds. But in fairness, those movies are almost 20 years old, and if it wasn’t for the work done on them, there’d be no The Mandalorian.
Lucasfilm had to learn to make Yoda walk before it could make Baby Yoda… sip soup It’s progress.