Ewan McGregor Formed An Adorable Bond With His Obi-Wan Kenobi Camel

While working on the set of the new Star Wars television series Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor formed an adorable bond with his camel co-star.

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Ewan McGregor formed an adorable bond with his camel co-star on the set of his Star Wars television series. Originally announced in 2019, the upcoming show is the latest entry in the Star Wars franchise as Disney and Lucasfilm expand the science-fiction universe through various new television and film projects. Set 10 years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, which saw the rise of the evil Galactic Empire, McGregor reprises the role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role he first played in George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy.

The new Disney+ television series aims to tell some of the story leading up to the events of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The show follows McGregor as the titular character who lives in exile while watching and protecting a young Luke Skywalker on the desert planet of Tatooine. Following the fall of the Republic and the Jedi Order, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader aim to wipe the old mystical religion and its practitioners from the galaxy by brute force. Vader enlists a loyal squad of dark side warriors called Inquisitors to complete this deadly task.

McGregor sat down with Empire and admitted that he formed a tight bond with his camel co-star on the set of Obi-Wan Kenobi. According to the star, a camel named Silas doubled as his alien Eopie mount, a source of transportation on the arid planet. McGregor explained that the animal was a joy to be around as opposed to his far more bland experience while working on the prequels. Read what the actor had to say below of his new friend.

“I really, really liked him. I don’t know how Silas felt about me…Silas, he’s brilliant. When I deliver Luke to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on Tatooine at the very end of Episode III, I was riding a fucking blue gym horse. I had to just sit on it and pretend to be [rocks from side to side]. I had mates there – ‘It’s a big moment, come on set, we’ll watch the last [scene]…’ And there’s a blue gym horse. I’m like, ‘Are you kidding?’ I had to pretend to lope in on it, take the baby over, and then get back on the other way around.”
“The trainer could see that I really liked the camel, and he said, ‘He’s almost finished his career. He’s 20-something years old, and we’re looking for a forever home for him. I was like, ‘Oh, don’t tell me that.’ I’ll come home with a camel like, ‘Hey, guys! We can have a camel in the garden can’t we?’”

Unlike much of the prequel trilogy’s use of blue and green screen techniques, Obi-Wan Kenobi sees the use of StageCraft’s LED video wall and volume, a revolutionary visual effects method first put to use for The Mandalorian television series. This allowed for both practical and visual effects to be used seamlessly, including animals, as physical props could be lit in real-time from the large LED panels. Using real animals, such as Silas, helps create a bond between the actor and the animal, allowing for better performances from both. In this case, the bond was so great that McGregor nearly adopted Silas himself.

Although there is an old adage in Hollywood that filmmakers should never work with children or animals, oftentimes a project calls for it. And during those productions, actors and their animal co-stars sometimes form an unforgettable bond that radiates from the screen. In the film I Am Legend, Will Smith’s sole co-star for half of the film is a German Shepard. The actor grew so attached to the dog that he wished to adopt her but the trainer did not allow it. Fortunately for Sophie Turner, she was allowed to take home her husky Game of Thrones co-star after production wrapped. Although McGregor did not adopt Silas the camel, their bond is something that he will appear to cherish long after their journey while filming Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi.