Kumail Nanjiani sat down with EW to discuss his upcoming role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and he finally revealed more details about his character who is named Haja.
When asked about Haja, Kumail explained:
“His name is Haja, and he’s this guy who works on the streets of Daiyu, which is this new Star Wars location that we haven’t seen before that’s absolutely gorgeous. And he’s the guy who’s worked really hard to stay out of the bigger conflicts at play. He just kind of wants to be his own guy. Survival for him is all that matters.”
Kumail Nanjiani
While it sounds like Haja initially planned to be a low-level, borderline scoundrel, a run-in with Obi-Wan on Daiyu may change his destiny forever.
“He’s this sort of con-man guy who cons people for money. That’s what’s important to him. And then he has a run-in with Obi-Wan and suddenly he sort of gets stuck in the bigger conflicts at play, which is the thing that he really tries to avoid. So he is this street-level con-man guy who then gets embroiled in stuff that’s way too big for him. And he has to make a choice.”
Kumail Nanjiani
Honestly, Haja sounds like the perfect character for Nanjiani to play. He’s probably going to crack jokes when he’s in sticky situations, and he sounds like one of those Star Wars characters that fans will love because he’s neither pure good or pure evil.
Haja sounds a bit like the version of Han Solo that met Obi-Wan and Luke and then had to choose to get involved in the rebellion or not, so while he may not have been getting some of the bigger conflicts that Han did early on, he may have a similar trajectory.
Nick and I will talk more about Kumail’s interview on next week’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.
