Hayden Christensen Was Thrilled To Play a Clone Wars-Era Anakin Skywalker
The undeniable highlight of the Disney+ series Ahsoka was seeing Hayden Christensen return as Anakin Skywalker.
For the first time since he appeared as a Force ghost at the end of Return of the Jedi, a redeemed Anakin Skywalker made his presence in the galaxy felt.
A Triumphant Return
In a recent interview with the Dagobah Dispatch, Christensen discussed his return in Ahsoka and talked about his excitement in reentering the Star Wars universe.
“I was getting to play a version of this character that I hadn’t done before,” he explained.
“And when we meet Anakin in the World Between Worlds, it’s sort of me getting to play the totality of Anakin and Darth Vader. It’s an understanding of everything that he’s been through. And then when we go back to the Clone Wars flashback, that was just awesome.”
Playing Anakin During The Clone Wars
In the Ahsoka flashbacks, Christensen finally got to play the version of Anakin Skywalker, who was a hero during the Clone Wars.
That version of Skywalkwer had been fleshed out in The Clone Wars animated series but had never been portrayed in live-action.
“That was a version of the character that I was aware of when we were doing the prequels,” Christensen recalled.
“When we went to go do Episode III, George [Lucas] spoke a lot about what had happened in between Episode II and Episode III. And, of course, that was what Dave Filoni spent a lot of time exploring in the animated world, but I never really got to play that. And I remember when George was describing Anakin during the Clone Wars as being this great hero and a great leader, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really cool. I wish we could see a little bit of that.’ And we do a little bit. At the beginning of Episode III, you get a taste of it, but then very quickly he becomes consumed with all of the inner conflict again.”
As a longtime Star Wars fan, seeing Christensen play a Clone Wars-era Anakin Skywalker was truly a dream come true. It is great to hear that Christensen himself was also enamored with the idea.
Ahsoka is now streaming on Disney+.