Kumail Nanjiani recently sat down with Rolling Stone and discussed his Obi-Wan Kenobi series character, and apparently he’s playing a new version of a type of Star Wars character that fans haven’t exactly seen before. We reported weeks ago that his character would be a friend of Kenobi’s, so it’s nice to get a bit more meat from the man himself.
His exact quote on the type of character he’s playing went like this:
So then I talked to [director Deborah Chow] and we had a great conversation. And the character sounded awesome — I was so excited about this character. We haven’t seen this exact thing in Star Wars yet. This is like a new version of a type of Star Wars character we’ve seen before…
Kumail (Rolling Stone)
It’s a damn interesting quote even though it doesn’t really provide a great hint at who, or what Kumail could be playing. According to him, fans haven’t seen this “exact thing” in Star Wars yet, but it’s also a new version of a type of Star Wars character fans have seen before.
Could he be a robot? An alien sidekick? A loopy Force user? One just can’t nail down a particular archetype based on Kumail’s description, but his words are intriguing none the less.
He went on to talk about working with Ewan on set, and how his character is supposed to be intimidated by him:
Then there was this weird moment where I’m talking to Ewan and they yell “Action,” and he’d started talking to me, and I was like, “Oh, I’m talking to Obi-Wan right now. This is not Ewan McGregor. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi that I’m talking to.” My character is supposed to be a little bit intimidated by him, and I was a little bit intimidated. You know, it’s fucking Obi-Wan, what are you gonna do?”
Kumail (Rolling Stone)
Based on this quote, and our report on his character being a friend of Obi-Wan, it sounds like their relationship will grow over the series, because if he’s supposed to be intimidated by Kenobi, then they aren’t best buds to start things out.
Kumail also described a scene that could provide insights into a possible location for the show:
You really feel like you’re there. The first scene we shot, it was Star Wars outside the windows, with aliens walking around and ships flying by and all this stuff, but the rest of it just looked like a warehouse.
So I did a couple of takes and then Ewan was like, “You know, none of this is real.” I knew the windows weren’t real, but the walls weren’t either! I looked and I was like, “Wow, the walls are projected.” The only thing that was real in the whole room was the desk I was sitting at. It was wild. It was really, really exciting. I love shooting like that, because you don’t have to pretend that you’re on a spaceship flying through space. It really feels like you’re in a spaceship flying through space.
Kumail (Rolling Stone)
His description doesn’t necessarily sound like a Tatooine location we’ve seen before, especially the ship traffic, which could confirm other reports that Kenobi does indeed leave the desert planet thanks to a dire rescue operation for what we have to guess is someone tied to the Rebellion.
Nick and I will talk more about this interview on today’s episode of the SWTS, so don’t forget to tune into the Star Wars Time Show on a weekly basis via our podcast platforms or via YouTube if you prefer the livestream angle.
