Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen joke about ‘the high ground’

The stars of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi referenced — and poked fun at — a line from the film on which the Disney Plus series is based.

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen were promoting the series at a press junket when someone off-screen mentioned the “high ground,” referring to the climactic duel in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith which ends with Obi-Wan telling Anakin that he has the literal and metaphorical high ground before dealing him the final blow.

Obi-Wan and Anakin’s actors took the interruption in stride, with McGregor saying that he did, in fact, have the high ground, and then turning to the poster behind them to see if he still has it. “You still got it,” Christensen added after checking the poster himself and presumably seeing that McGregor has top billing.

The line has been memeified, prompting McGregor to say that he wishes he had a dollar for every time someone’s told him he has the high ground. In an interview with IGN, Revenge of the Sith fight choreographer Nick Gillard explained the origin of the famous phrase (as transcribed by CinemaBlend):

“We would eat in this restaurant every night that was up a hill. You could walk up the road and down to this restaurant, or you could walk across a steep bank to it. For me, I always want the most direct route so I’m going for the bank, and [Hayden] hates walking on a slope, so that was in my mind about the higher ground. If I can get [Anakin] on the slope, Obi might have a chance.”

See if Obi-Wan Kenobi has the high ground on other Star Wars productions when it premieres on May 27 on Disney Plus.