'Star Wars' actors Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen say fan love for the prequels persuaded them to come back

• Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor said the fans are the reason they are returning to "Star Wars."
• The prequel trilogy, in which they originally starred, was panned by critics.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" actors Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor thanked fans for bringing them back to the "Star Wars" universe.

The pair starred in the "Star Wars" prequel movies, which were released in the late '90s and early 2000s. Now they reprise their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Christensen), also known as Darth Vader, for the first time in 17 years.

The prequel trilogy initially received mixed reviews from critics, excluding the third movie, "Revenge of the Sith." During a roundtable for "Obi-Wan Kenobi," which Insider attended, both actors said that they only returned for the new Disney+ series because of fans' passion to see them again.

McGregor, who plays the lead role in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," said that at the time of the original films' release the only voice they heard was "the voice of the critics."

"The movie critics decided not very much to like our movies, so it's taken a long time for the kids, for who we made those films for really, for their voice to be heard," McGregor said. "And to realize that for that generation, our movies were the 'Star Wars' movies in the same way that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford's movies were mine."

The Obi-Wan actor added: "So it's a really nice feeling for me that that's the case, that I have a sense now that there's this warmth for those films. It absolutely is part of the reason I wanted to come back and play him again."

Christensen also said he wanted to send fans "a big thank you" for bringing him back to the "Star Wars" universe.

"I feel like I'm coming back now because of the fan base and because there is all of this incredible support now and love for the character," Christensen said. "And that's just incredibly heartwarming. I can't tell you how much it means to me every time I meet a fan and they express, sort of, their passion for 'Star Wars' and their appreciation for this character."

Christensen added that it was a "very emotional experience" when he put on the Darth Vader suit again to film "Obi-Wan Kenobi." In the prequel trilogy, he only wore the suit at the end of "Revenge of the Sith," when Anakin becomes the villain.

"Obviously, it brought up a lot of feelings of nostalgia but it was also very cathartic in a way too, just because this is a character that means so much to me and has really sort of stayed with me over the years," Christensen said.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" premieres on Disney+ on May 27.