Star Wars Actor Officially Breaks Silence on a Major Fandom Controversy
Ewan McGregor has spoken candidly about the harsh critical reception of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, revealing how he learned to shrug off the criticism rather than let it affect him. Speaking to The Independent, the actor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi across the prequels and later in his own Disney Plus series, said the experience taught him "not to give a shit" about negative reviews, marking a rare and candid public reflection on a saga that was widely panned on release but has since been reassessed more favourably by fans.
McGregor explained that committing to the franchise was initially a difficult decision, given that his earlier career had been built on smaller, "artier" films such as Trainspotting and Being Human. He said the prequels were "really dragged through the mud by the critics" at the time, but that he came to terms with this by focusing on his own enjoyment of making them and later hearing from fans who had grown up loving the films. He suggested this newfound appreciation could eventually extend to the similarly divisive sequel trilogy.
- McGregor says he learned to ignore prequel trilogy criticism
- He called joining Star Wars an initially hard career decision
- Fan appreciation for prequels grew despite harsh original reviews