Hayden Christensen Is Really Excited to Return as Darth Vader: It Feels Good to Be Back

It was recently announced that Hayden Christensen will be returning to the Star Wars universe in the Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff series greenlit for Disney+ in the role of Anakin Skywalker. The actor will be teaming up once again with Ewan McGregor in the role of Kenobi. Christensen opened up about his role in the series and teased a possible confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

“It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker. Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in store for us all. I’m excited to work with Ewan again. It feels good to be back.”

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Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy described the events surrounding Anakin and Obi-Wan’s reunion as the “rematch of the century“, which sounds about right given the last time they appeared in a movie together, in which Obi-Wan beat Anakin so hard he turned into Darth Vader.

The Star Wars history between the two characters is a long and complicated one. While Anakin was living as a young slave on the planet Tatooine, he was rescued and taken under the wing of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who was also training a young Obi-Wan Kenobi at the time. Following Jinn’s death, Kenobi promised to take over the role of Anakin’s Jedi mentor.

Unfortunately, the growing darkness inside Anakin was not to be held back, and he eventually turned himself over to the dark side, taking up the new name Darth Vader. Thus Obi-Wan was forced to battle his former pupil. He left Vader on the planet Musfatar, badly injured and close to death, until the fallen Jedi was rescued by Emperor Palpatine, and placed inside the iconic black robes and life-saving armor that Vader wore for the rest of his life.

It is not yet known which part of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s history the upcoming series will focus on. Since audiences have already seen the movie regarding the final battle between the two, it would make sense for the new series to go further back in the past, to the time when the two were highly decorated Jedi Knights working on missions together. But Kennedy’s statement seems to imply their final battle on Mustafar will also figure in the show.

Fans were surprised to learn Hayden Christensen was willing to return to the role of Anakin once again. The actor has been relentlessly trolled over his role in the Star Wars franchise before online trolling was even a thing, and many fans accused his take on Vader to be too much like an “emo teen” to be believable as one of the greatest villains in movie history. Still, Christensen seems to have put all that behind him and is ready to take another stab at the character. Hopefully, the results will be much better received this time around.

Directed by Deborah Chow and starring Ewan McGregor, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series is currently in development for Disney+. This news comes direct from StarWars.com.