Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hera Syndulla might not end up having a romantic relationship in the canon of the galaxy far, far away, but the actor who portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in the three prequel Star Wars movies and the Obi-Wan Disney+ series, Ewan McGregor, is married to the actress who plays the brilliant Rebel general Hera on the Ahsoka series, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The Force is clearly strong with their family as it turns out that their son loves his Star Wars toys particularly a cute one from The Mandalorian series that he's "obsessed" with.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Winstead opened up about her familial connection to the Star Wars universe. The 38-year-old actress revealed that long before she was cast as Hera, she would often visit her husband on the set of his Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she talked about her son, Laurie, is "obsessed" with Star Wars toys.
I remember coming in with our little newborn boy. Once he was ready to be out in the world, that was one of the first places he ever went to, the Obi-Wan set. So, he has definitely become familiar with the Star Wars world, even if he doesn't fully understand it yet. He's got Star Wars friends all over the place — like Grogu [Baby Yoda] dolls everywhere that he's obsessed with. It's been a part of our lives for a while now.
Winstead, who's the first actress to portray a live-action version of Hera on Ahsoka series, believes that her conversations with the director of the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries on Disney+, Deborah Chow, helped her land the role of the green-skinned Twi'lek captain and Ahsoka Tano's (Rosario Dawson) ally/ rebel friend.
"I think there was an influence there," Winstead told EW in the same interview. "I got to know Deb from being around the Obi-Wan set, and I think she was sort of poking Dave [Filoni] and Jon [Favreau], going, 'Hey! She'd be a really good Hera!'"
Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead's son loves Star Wars toys
Winstead and McGregor's 2-year-old son Laurie doesn't just love Grogu, a.k.a. Baby Yoda. Winstead also revealed to EW that Laurie's other favorite toys include young Leia's (Vivien Lyra Blair) droid Lola, and of course, the character that his father plays, Obi-Wan. Winstead revealed in the same interview:
In terms of our son's favorite toys, he's got his Grogu. He's got Lola from the Obi-Wan series. There's a lot of 'Dadas' around from various different eras of Obi-Wan. If he sees any sort of Obi-Wan figure around, that's 'Dada.' That's what he knows it as right now.
What Mary Elizabeth Winstead loves about Hera
In the same interview with EW, Winstead talked about the character she portrays in Ahsoka series, Hera, the incredible Rebel general and the mother of young son Jacen Syndulla (played by Evan Whitten):
What I love about her is that she's such a strong leader and fighter, and she's also so maternal and nurturing. We don't often see that depicted on screen. We see army generals being these very masculine, hard figures. And Hera has that, but she also has this softness to her. She really wants her crew to be loved and looked after, and at the same time, she's pushing them to be better.
Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 6 will premiere on Tuesday, September 19 at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PT on Disney+.
