‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’: Ewan McGregor Receives ‘a Lot of Homoerotic’ Fan Art Featuring Hayden Christensen

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen’s chemistry is written in the stars, at least according to “Obi-Wan Kenobi” fans.

Decades after the duo first appeared side-by-side as Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, respectively, in the “Star Wars” prequel films, McGregor and Christensen reunited for the Disney+ series, set 10 years after the events of “Revenge of the Sith.”

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“There’s a lot of homoerotic Obi-Wan/Hayden fan art that gets sent to me now and again,” McGregor revealed to GQ. “I don’t know how it finds me. It’s always a bit of an eyeopener.”

McGregor continued: “You open the envelope, you think you’re going to have to sign something, and you’re like, ‘Fucking hell!'”

The Disney+ series, currently streaming, marked both McGregor and Christensen’s returns to the franchise. Christensen previously gushed that even the crew were “proper ‘Star Wars’ fans,” which made the series so special. “Everybody’s really excited to be there,” Christensen said.

Director Deborah Chow revealed there was a “moment of silence” when first seeing Christensen as Anakin Skywalker turned Darth Vader.

“It’s really intense to have such an iconic character, and then to be directing him and to be doing new scenes with him,” Chow explained. “So I do remember poor Ewan on that day, he’s like, ‘What am I, chopped liver by comparison right now?'”

And, of course, Chow pointed out the inherent “love story” between opposing forces Obi-Wan and Vader.

“For me, across the prequels, through the original trilogy, there’s a love-story dynamic with these two that goes through the whole thing,” Chow told Vanity Fair. “I felt like it was quite hard to not [include] the person who left Kenobi in such anguish in the series…What’s special about that relationship is that they loved each other.”

IndieWire’s Ben Travers praised “Obi-Wan Kenobi” for deftly balancing the nuanced good vs. evil debate, writing in his review, “Considering ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ serves as a de-facto bridge between the two [films] — explaining how Ben spent his time after defeating Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) but before his son, Luke, comes into his own — the look fits, as does our protagonist’s central dilemma: Can trying to save one life jeopardize another? Can good be manipulated into evil? Is the risk always worth it, or should exceptions be made? Such dilemmas are familiar to “Star Wars,” but that doesn’t make them any less engaging.”

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