Darth Vader “was such an iconic character ever since I was a little kid, so getting to play this role was really just the opportunity of a lifetime,” reveals Hayden Christensen about returning to the “Star Wars” fold as the legendary character. For our recent webchat he adds, “I don’t know that I could ever fully get my head around how big it was, just because it didn’t really serve my purposes as an actor, and trying to figure out how to play this character,” he explains, “to come back all these years later and do some more with him has just been a phenomenal experience.”
In “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Christensen reprises his role as the iconic Darth Vader alongside Emmy winner Ewan McGregor, returning as the titular Jedi master from the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Set 10 years after “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005), in which the Jedi were destroyed by Order 66 and Kenobi’s apprentice Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, it follows Kenobi as he sets out to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from the evil Empire, leading to a climactic confrontation and reckoning with the dark lord. The series co-stars Emmy nominee Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, fellow Galactic Inquisitors Moses Ingram and Sung Kang, Oscar and Emmy nominee Kumail Nanjiani as con-artist Haja Estree, Indira Varma as Imperial officer Tala Durith, Vivien Lyra Blair and Grant Feely as a young Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Kawlan Roken, Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse reprising their roles as Owen and Beru Lars, Emmy winner Jimmy Smits returning as Bail Organa, Ian McDiarmid back as Vader’s master Emperor Palpatine, and special guest cameos from Oscar nominee Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Anthony Daniels as C3PO.
The six-episode limited series culminates in a spectacular finale, in which Kenobi confronts Vader alone on a nearby planet after regaining his full connection to the Force, leading to a lightsaber duel that ends with a tearful Anakin realizing that his apprentice has completely embraced his new identity as Darth Vader. Looking back at his time on set, revisiting this iconic character and getting ready to shoot the climactic battle scene, Christensen says that it caused quite a stir amongst the crew, all of whom wanted to be present to witness sparks fly between the light and the dark side of the Force.
“We all knew it was a big one going into it. When I got on to set, it felt different,” he recalls. “I got there and Ewan was there on his own, getting ready, waiting for myself. So, I got there and we just started talking about the scene a little bit and I turned around and the entire crew had gathered, and lots of people from the production offices had come down and we had an audience! Then we got into it and the very first take, it just worked. We knew we were in a good place, so we started to play with it a little bit and try some different things,” he says. “What really surprised me was what Ewan brought to it. I think it’s his performance that really makes that seem so heartbreaking, because you feel it in his performance. I was caught off guard by that as well, you know. It was a very powerful experience and a professional highlight for me getting to do that with Ewan.”
Today is Hayden’s 42nd birthday. We hear at Hayden Christensen Archives would like to wish him a fantastic and amazing birthday with the ones that he loves. We have a lot to look forward to in August when Ahsoka premieres.
Hayden Christensen is getting some love from Star Wars fans.
On Sunday, Christensen — who famously portrayed pivotal Star Wars character Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in 2002’s Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Revenge of the Sith — appeared at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London.
At the event, the 41-year-old actor said he felt “emotional” as a significant crowd of fans applauded his appearance at the convention centered around the space opera franchise created by George Lucas in the 1970s.
“You’re making me emotional,” Christensen told a live audience at the beginning of his appearance, a clip from his live streamed appearance shared on Twitter shows.
“Thank you so much,” Christensen added, after the host interviewing him said: “There isn’t a single bit of it that isn’t deserved.”
Christensen took his role as Anakin in his early 20s and infamously received the blunt end of negative reviews surrounding Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy, alongside actors like Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) and Jake Lloyd, who portrayed Anakin as a child in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Now more than two decades since the prequel movies released, Christensen and Best are among actors who have made triumphant returns to the franchise via its Disney+ television content. Christensen reprised his role as Darth Vader while acting alongside Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, while Best recently made a cameo as a new character in The Mandalorian.
“For me, the experience of working on the prequels was amazing,” Christensen told PEOPLE about his relationship with the franchise in June 2022.
“My relationship with Star Wars is I guess, ever-evolving,” he said at the time. “I’m just in a really good place with it right now and just really grateful for all of this.”
Christensen said at the time that his daughter, Briar Rose, who he shares with ex Rachel Bilson, is “certainly curious” about the movies.
“I haven’t showed her the films yet, but she understands what a lightsaber is,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “There are these things that permeate our culture in a way that you don’t even need to know the stories and still, Star Wars will resonate with you. It’s remarkable.”
The actor is not fully done with the franchise, either; back in 2021, Christensen signed on to play Darth Vader once more in the upcoming Disney+ series Ashoka. The series will center around Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), whose origin centers around a master-apprentice relationship with Anakin largely depicted in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Ashoka takes place five years after the events of 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, in which Anakin dies and becomes a Force ghost.
Gallery Links:
– APR 9TH | STAR WARS CELEBRATION 2013: LIVE PANEL
– APR 9TH | STAR WARS CELEBRATION 2013: OBI-WAN KENOBI PANEL
– APR 9TH | STAR WARS CELEBRATION 2013: PORTRAITS
The future of the Star Wars franchise might be full of new projects, but Obi-Wan Kenobi Season 2 might not be part of it. During the Star Wars Celebration, many movies and upcoming series shared details about what’s coming next for the Lucasfilm galactic universe. Still, some other projects were absent, like the Ewan McGregor starred show, which might not return after all.
Head of the company, Kathleen Kennedy, chatted with Variety about some of the missing titles from the panels of the event and shared some disappointing news about the Obi-Wan Kenobi series:
“That is not an active development. But I never say never, because there’s always the possibility. That show was so well-received and [director] Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job. Ewan McGregor really wants to do another. Everybody’s all hands on deck with what we’re doing right now, as you can see by what we showed everybody [at the Celebration]. We’ll turn our attention to that again maybe down the road.”
McGregor has shared his interest in returning as the legendary Jedi soon, especially after his emotional comeback in the first season of his individual series, which reunited him with Hayden Christensen. But it’s been months since the show’s release, which kept fans wondering what would happen with it, especially with other projects like Andor being renewed immediately.
Warrior. Outcast. Rebel. Jedi.
#Ahsoka arrives August 2023 on @DisneyPlus.
We have a brand new layout thanks to Claudia. I put it up today as tomorrow, I’ll be meeting Hayden Christensen at MegaCon in Orlando and will hopefully be able to provide him the url of the site so that he can see the site.
Again huge kudos goes to Claudia for the design.
Hayden went out and attended the Tokyo Comic Con Day 2 and I’ve managed to add 28 HQ photos from the event. It’s so good to see him out and about again!
Gallery Links:
– NOV 27TH | TOKYO COMIC CON – DAY TWO
Hayden went out and attended the Tokyo Comic Con and I’ve managed to add 9 HQ photos from the event. It’s so good to see him out and about again!
Gallery Links:
– NOV 25TH | TOKYO COMIC CON – DAY ONE
Hayden Christensen is currently in discussions to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe for an upcoming project. According to our trusted and proven sources, the once and future Anakin Skywalker is the latest of many, many, many prominent actors to be lured to Marvel, which has a constant need to bring in new actors to its extensive future schedule of films, shows, and Disney+ specials. Although there are few details as to who Hayden Christensen could be in talks to play, we speculate that he is in negotiations with Marvel to play none other than Norrin Radd aka the Silver Surfer.
By an extraordinarily wide margin, Hayden Christensen is best known for playing Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for Marvel’s fellow Disney property, Lucasfilm. This year, he returned to the role to much critical acclaim and fan enthusiasm, first in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor and soon in the Ahsoka series with Rosario Dawson. Given that Hayden Christensen seems to be coming out of semi-retirement (perhaps due to recent, more positive re-evaluations of the Star Wars prequel trilogy), it seems like a good time for him to get on board the Marvel train.
Although the Silver Surfer has not yet appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is really only a matter of time. The character became accessible to Marvel Studios when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019 and, along with it, the film rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer is one of the most well-known recurring characters for Marvel’s First Family, so there is a very solid chance he could be showing up in some capacity in their upcoming movie.
Hayden Christensen could play Marvel’s Silver Surfer for a number of reasons. One, most likely, the character would be CGI and he has a lot of experience doing vocal work. Two, audiences are already very familiar with Hayden Christensen playing a morally conflicted character who has given himself over to mass violence at the behest of a greater power. Three, Hayden Christensen is already in good with Disney via Star Wars and presumably could be transferred over to the Marvel branch of the company relatively easily.
The Silver Surfer appeared in the second 20th Century Fox Fantastic Four movie, portrayed by a combination of CGI, the prolific actor and contortionist Doug Jones, and the voice of Laurence Fishburne. While Hayden Christensen might not have the same level of vocal gravitas as the star of The Matrix and John Wick, he could potentially bring a more emotional aspect to the Marvel character once he manages to tear away from the clouding influence of his master Galactus. Plus, if there is a flashback to pre-Power Cosmic Silver Surfer when he was a simple astronomer named Norrin Radd, it would be fun to see Hayden Christensen unexpectedly appear.
For now, we will just have to see whether Hayden Christensen can come to an agreement with Marvel Studios and whether he will indeed be playing the herald of Galactus. The Fantastic Four movie is scheduled to be released in 2025, so we will find out in the future.
Yesterday was Disney Plus day and they released an fantastic documentary about the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the Star Wars world. I would suggest everyone go and watch it as it’s very heart felt and it shows how much love Hayden has received upon his return as Anakin. We can’t wait to see him next in Ahoska!
Gallery Links:
– OBI-WAN KENOBI: A JEDI’S RETURN [SCREENCAPTURES]