Hayden Christensen decided to rewatch all of the “Star Wars” movies and animated shows ahead of his role in the upcoming “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series, he said in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.
The backdrop: Christensen — who played Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy — is returning to the franchise for the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
- Christensen will reprise his role as Vader and become the main villain of the series as he looks to fight Obi-Wan Kenobi again.
- Darth Vader, as a character, has made canonical appearances in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars: Rebels” and “Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order” since Christensen’s last appearance, though.
What he said: “I went back and rewatched all the films,” Christensen told Entertainment Weekly. “And I also got into the animated shows, ‘The Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels.’”
- “It was interesting ... They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.”
The bigger picture: Christensen’s return is a major moment for the “Star Wars” community, as it brings one of the most notable and controversial actors back to the franchise.
- In fact, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that the decision to bring back Christensen — who was maligned during the initial run of the prequel films before receiving praise in more recent years — came after serious debate within the company.
What she said: “The debate around whether we should do that or not carried on for quite some time. Everybody within our creative team has strong opinions, and all of our fans have strong opinions. So when you realize that you’re under that level of scrutiny, certainly a story point like that is going to be scrutinized at a very high level. We talked about it constantly.”