The recent return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Ahsoka was nothing more than a prequel fan’s fantasy. Hayden brought the heat to his performance, consolidating multiple versions of his character into one timeless package.
Episode 5 featured Anakin giving his padawan learner one final lesson. Without a doubt, the episode shut down any haters that remained from the days of the prequel trilogy.
The official account of Star Wars posted a brief interview on Instagram, featuring Christensen giving several remarks regarding his return. Christensen reveals that he supported Filoni’s vision for Ahsoka from the very beginning.
"“When I read the script for the first time, I was just blown away.”"
We’ve rarely seen Christensen talk about his feelings about his return, except for special events at Star Wars: Celebration. The actor was not hesitant to show his gratitude to the fans who have supported him for so long.
"“It’s been really remarkable, the support I’ve gotten from the fans. It has been just amazing. I mean it’s a hard thing for me to really define for you in words. It’s meant a lot to come beach to Star Wars and do more with this character, and it’s really been a special thing.”"
Hayden did not get this kind of support during his last portrayal as Anakin. The prequels were not initially received well overall before the age of social media. Unfortunately, Christensen got seemingly the worst end of the blowback which deterred him from having any interest in coming back. However, the announcement of Obi-Wan Kenobi started to get fans to voice their interest in seeing Christensen make his return.
Anakin’s return in Ahsoka left a lot of people comfortably satisfied, but is it the last we see of the fallen Jedi?
After the amazing support that Christensen was praised with (and the check that we can all speculate was pretty big), there’s certainly a chance that he would be willing to return. It also matters what Filoni has in store and if he’ll need Anakin again.
However, the closing shot of Skywalker in the series finale definitely looks promising, especially if Lucasfilm greenlights Ahsoka Season 2. Regardless if he makes another appearance in the future, Christensen can rest assured that his portrayal as Anakin has just become ten times more legendary than anyone ever anticipated.