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Star Wars should make the best of Hayden Christensen’s return

By Mehwish Mahmood

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MAY 26: Hayden Christensen attends a surprise premiere of the first two episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California on May 26th. The series streams exclusively on Disney+. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MAY 26: Hayden Christensen attends a surprise premiere of the first two episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California on May 26th. The series streams exclusively on Disney+. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney) /
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Obi Wan Kenobi was released last year and it marked the return of Hayden Christensen to Star Wars after nearly two decades since the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Christensen expressed his interest in voicing Anakin Skywalker for The Clone Wars animated series. However, the job of voicing Anakin was handled by Matt Lanter. Despite a lukewarm response by critics for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy, fans grew to love Hayden, and The Clone Wars did a great job of helping fans understand the character even further.

The growing love for Anakin led to a growing demand that Hayden returns and after many years of speculation, he did return and portrayed Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker in the Kenobi series. Christensen’s acting has been received with more appreciation this time around. Thanks to Hayden’s acting and the series, it now seems possible to picture the once gorgeous Anakin in his destroyed, damaged and corrupted form under Darth Vader’s helmet.

But the series still featured  very little of Hayden overall, and he appeared as Anakin in only a couple of scenes, only one of which was a flashback. Since Daisy Ridley’s return has been announced and she’s coming back in a full length movie, it seems like Hayden too deserves a little more mileage out of his role as Anakin Skywalker. Whether that happens through his rumored appearance in Ahsoka, or through another project, remains to be seen. Regardless of the mean reviews and his overall distancing from acting in general, Christensen has maintained a love and respect for the franchise as a whole, and seems open to doing whatever it is that he’s offered.

Perhaps a limited series focusing on his years as Darth Vader, before the events of A New Hope or even after he learns that Luke is his son, would be very riveting. The Vader comic series is extremely compelling and has done a wonderful job in filling in many of the gaps. There are plenty of emotional moments that would captivate audiences if brought to live action, including moments where Vader visits Padme’s tomb, and has visions of confessing his sins to his former master, Obi Wan Kenobi.

No matter which characters come and go, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker will always have an extremely strong hold on the emotions of Star Wars fans. Hayden Christensen is a great guy and a lover of Star Wars, and it seems like the perfect time to give him an opportunity to do more with the character. With a capable writer and director at the helm of such a series, it’s bound to hit the right notes.

For now, Hayden is rumored to be in Ahsoka which premieres in August. He was also a part of Obi Wan Kenobi last year. Kenobi is streaming now on Disney+.

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