Ewan McGregor And Hayden Christensen Get Candid About ‘Star Wars’ Prequel Backlash: ‘I Found It Quite Hard’

etcanada.com:

Ahead of the release of their Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, stars Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are reflecting on the negative backlash surrounding the “Star Wars” prequels. “I found it quite hard,” McGregor tells Entertainment Weekly of the reaction to the highly-anticipated trilogy received when it was first released in 1999.

The first film, “The Phantom Menace”, was mocked by many long-time “Star Wars” fans for a range of aspects including its sometimes clunky-sounding dialogue and the presence of Jar Jar Binks.

Now, McGregor and Christensen are both reprising their prequel roles in the upcoming Disney+ series. “For it to come out and get knocked so hard was personally quite difficult to deal with.

And also, [‘Phantom Menace’] was quite early in my career. I didn’t really know how to deal with that,” McGregor continues. “I’d been involved with things that just didn’t make much of a ripple, but that’s different from making something that makes a negative ripple.” READ MORE: ‘Hello There’: First Look At Ewan McGregor In ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Series Has Arrived With New Teaser For Canadian actor Christensen who played Anakin Skywalker in the two of the prequels, the backlash was “challenging”. “When the films came out and the critics were very critical, of course that was a difficult thing — because you care so much about this thing that you’ve invested so much of yourself into,” he recalls. “So, for sure, that’s challenging.” However, more than 20 years after the release of “The Phantom Menace”, McGregor says he’s encountering people who grew up with the prequels and have reclaimed them from the critical consensus at their release, viewing them as positive forces in the “Star Wars” universe. READ MORE: