[jomamaxx]

Star Wars villains in the first series use such accents.

A) The Imperial Navy is a euphimism for the British Navy / Empire.

B) It was filmed in the UK with almost all UK actors.

The new Star Wars - none of the accents are posh really.

Just English accents, again actors, filming etc. - although - I think there was some attempt by JJ to keep it UK-ish in that manner, though I'm not sure.

[stonogo]

Ah, yes, the notable villain Obi Wan Kenobi.

[amyjess]

It makes a bit more sense when you realize that the Empire saw themselves as the continuation of the Republic (the Senate wasn't abolished until partway through A New Hope, for example), and Obi-Wan was very much a part of the Republic's leadership, being a sitting member of the Jedi Council and all.

So it's not so much a "villain accent" as it is a "Republic leadership accent", where the Empire is just a corrupted Republic.

[arethuza]

Played by Guinness who was half Scottish and educated in Edinburgh and Mcregor who seems completely Scottish.

Do we Scots get an exemption from the "evil Brit" trope - (OK apart from Begby or Fred the Shred, but there aren't really people like that in Scotland, honest).

;-)

[BellsOnSunday]

It doesn't matter where Alec Guinness was born, he sounded about as Scottish as the Queen. Ewan McGregor's English accent OTOH sounds fake.

[arethuza]

I was probably thinking of Guinness as Charles I in Cromwell.