Hayden Christensen gave us 2 great performances as Anakin Skywalker, first in Attack of the clones where he portrayed a young Anakin Skywalker before he became this great Clone Wars general and then portrayed a Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith.
It has been in the works for months to have Hayden return as the iconic Sith Lord, Vader. Well, recently Hayden’s name appeared on the casting list for the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series after being announced months ago. This made it official.
But why am I beyond excited for his return?
Firstly, because he’s the best version of Anakin, he nailed everything about him from his mannerisms, to speech, and to movement. When I think of Anakin, my mind goes instantly to Hayden, not the Clone Wars counterpart. In the two films Hayden starred in, he delivered each time, put his heart and soul into the role, and completely owned it.
Secondly, he’s proven he can don the Vader suit, I’d love to see more of him in it (we will be). The entire hate that Hayden received as well as the prequel movies themselves is completely undeserved. They were great, they set the groundwork for the original movies. This was George Lucas’s vision, why would he put out this content to receive hate? It’s unfair, the prequels were great, they showcased the universe before the Empire, it showcased just how genius Palpatine was.
Thirdly, the reuniting of Ewan and Hayden, their brotherhood is something that made the prequels work on the outside, to what we got in the movies is completely down to Ewan and Hayden’s friendship and bond behind the scenes of the prequels.
And lastly, if Hayden is well received as Vader this could lead to something which every Star Wars fan wants, a live-action project focused purely on Vader before he returns as Anakin in episode 6. We’ve had teases over the years, especially in Rogue One with that brutal Vader hallway scene.
Now, imagine having this movie or Disney+ series announced as Vader returning, potentially about his early days as Vader, finding and bleeding his own Kyber Crystal? Hunting down Jedi, the war of Kashyyyk? It would be amazing to see in live-action and fully cement Star Wars as one of the greatest franchises in history.
I, for one, can not wait to see Obi-Wan meet Vader for the first time in live-action since what happened on Mustafar. I really hope that they add in the scene where Obi-Wan sees Vader on a hologram as well. This scene will be pivotal.
Photo: Anakin and Obi-Wan in Episode 3.
