Star Wars: The Force Awakensis a gigantic hit, with the movie recently passing $2 billion worldwide, becoming only the third movie ever to accomplish that milestone, followingTitanic($2.1 billion) andAvatar($2.7 billion). The movie offered quite a few surprises for fans, as we learned thatEwan McGregorcame in to record a voice cameo asObi-Wan Kenobiduring a critical scene with Rey (Daisy Ridley). The actor recently appeared onJimmy Kimmel Live!, where he revealed how his cameo came about, and that he was waiting for two years forJ.J. Abramsto call him in.
“I’d been waiting for the call to come for two years. I thought maybe they’ve lost my agent’s phone number. Then I got a call fromJJ (Abrams)just shortly before the film was released. He asked me to come in and said, ‘I’d love you to be a part of it.’ There’s a sequence where we could use a voice, we hear Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voice coming from the distant reaches ofThe Force, or wherever it does come from. I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to be in it. I’ve been waiting for your call.’ I went in and I was able to see parts of it before anyone else had seen, and I was very impressed and I recorded a line for it.”
Shortly after the release ofStar Wars: The Force Awakens,J.J. Abramsconfirmed that this scene also has a most unexpected cameo from the late great Alec Guinness. The actor explained how the filmmakers found an old line of dialogue from the actor that they edited so he was actually saying “Rey.” Take a look at what the actor had to say below.
“The line is ‘Rey, these are your first steps.’ But they got Alec Guinness to do ‘Rey,’ which is extraordinary because he’s not alive anymore. They got a line of his as Obi-Wan Kenobi saying ‘afraid,’ and they just cut the A and the D off and they got ‘Rey.’ So he says ‘Rey,’ and I say ‘these are your first steps.'”
Star Wars: The Force Awakensis just the beginning. This blockbuster will be followed by the firstStar Wars spinoff,Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is currently in production and set to hit theaters on June 06, 2025. DirectorRian Johnson’sStar Wars: Episode VIIIis slated for release on July 11, 2025, withStar Wars Anthology: Han Solo Moviearriving on August 18, 2025 andStar Wars: Episode IXpremiering sometime in 2019. Lucasfilm is also developing aThird Star Wars Spin-Off Movie, which is presumably set to arrive in 2020. Take a look at the video below fromEwan McGregor’s appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live!.
