Ewan McGregor revisits Obi-Wan Kenobi's various hairstyles

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi Master. That doesn't mean he has always been a master of fashionable hairstyles, however. Whether sporting a goofy ponytail (and ever-changing hair colors and lengths) in The Phantom Menace, rocking mid-90s hockey hair in Attack of the Clones, or dramatically reversing course to go long-in-front and short-in-back in Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi has proved to be the most follicly fascinating character in the galaxy.

But how does the man who played Obi-Wan feel about all those curious coiffures, and what does he have to say about the latest look sported in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi (premiering May 25 on Disney+)? As part of our exclusive cover story on the upcoming series, we grilled Ewan McGregor about the most important aspect of playing Obi-Wan: the hair. And we captured the entire thing on video for your enjoyment.

Watch the video above to enjoy McGregor waxing both nostalgic and confused about some of Obi-Wan's prequel looks, but here are a few choice snippets from the actor's review of his character's bold stylistic choices.

The Phantom Menace

"I remember the idea of it being short. I think they were looking for something in a military sense or in the world of monks that there's some sort of hairstyle sacrifice in order to be a Jedi. I guess to become a Jedi you have to give up the idea of being married or there's some sort of monk-like qualities that are similar."

"What I didn't like very much was when we came back, there was always a period of time after the main shoot where we came back to do some reshoots. And for episode 1, it was six, seven, eight months after the principal photography, we had to come back and I was doing something else and I couldn't cut my hair. And so they made a wig that was a short hair wig, which is the worst kind of wig. If you've got a wig and it's long hair, you can disguise the fact that it's a wig, but when it's a short hair wig, it's a nightmare. I've seen some clips of both episode 1 and the reshoots from episode 2 where you're like, 'Are you kidding me?'"

"And then for episode 1, not only did I have to wear it for the reshoots, and it's usually just a little shot here or there for reshoots. And most people don't really notice it. But some bright spark decided to put me on a poster in the wig! They picked an image of me from the reshoots and I saw myself in this huge poster in the wig. And I'm like, 'Are you kidding? You couldn't find a still of me when from the real shoot?' Unbelievable. I don't know who that was, but I'd love to meet them one day and just say, 'Are you f---ing kidding me about that?'"

Attack of the Clones

"We called it the sort of Jedi mullet. It could be in some second-degree way a little cool, but not really. It was very mullet-y and sort of quite inspired pretty much by the Bee Gees, I think really. Jedi Bee Gees. So yeah, I didn't like it very much, but I guess there's some sort of progression. Hayden [Christensen] had to go through a similar sort of progression with his hair where it's shorter when you were Padawan, then longer at the back."

Revenge of the Sith

"Ultimately in episode 3, we get onto a haircut, which is heading more towards Alec Guinness in episode 4. We were looking at pictures of Alec Guinness in episode 4 and we were definitely trying to bridge that gap. We thought, this is the last we're going to see of Obi-Wan Kenobi before he's Alec Guinness. And so we're sort of moving in that direction. We put some graying in here. We grayed up the beard a little bit. And it was a much shorter haircut. I think the episode 2 haircut was meant to be like warrior, and the episode 3 haircut was meant to be more master, teacher. So I think my idea was definitely to try and get closer to Alec Guinness. It was to try and show that that's where I was headed."

Obi-Wan Kenobi

"It's a longer haircut. I think it's a man who's been not looking after himself so much, and I wanted a much more sort of unkempt look where Obi-Wan starts at the beginning of that story, he's pretty hopeless. He's without hope, he's without faith and he wanted this sort of hair and beard to represent that. So it's much more less groomed and longer."

To watch McGregor's full take(down) on Obi-Wan's prequel hair, watch the video at the top of the post. Also, get yourself a look at the Jedi's latest hairstyle as part of our cover story documenting the 17-year journey to bring the character back to the screen.

Order a copy of EW's final print edition, or find it on newsstands beginning March 18.

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