Hayden Christensen heading back to Star Wars has meant a lot to us prequel-loving kids. Seeing Anakin Skywalker again after all these years has brought peace, freedom, and security to our new empire. But for Christensen, it also brought him a “bucket list” item he didn’t know he had.
In the new cover story for Empire Magazine that brought the cast of the Star Wars prequel movies back together, Christensen talked about getting to star opposite Ariana Greenblatt and Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano and how it made him want to explore Anakin’s time during the Clone Wars even more.
In the world of Star Wars, we got to see how Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi dealt with the Clone Wars in a more in-depth way in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but fans saw a brief look at Christensen as that younger Anakin in the series Ahsoka on Disney+. And for Christensen, that was an exciting moment for him.
“The scenes that I got to do as Anakin on Ahsoka was a bucket-list item I didn’t even know I had,” Christensen said. “When I was getting ready to do Obi-Wan Kenobi, I started my Clone Wars deep-dive, and I loved it. I remember thinking, ‘Man, it would be so cool to see some of that in live action.'”
Famously, Christensen got into the animated shows in preparation for his return to Star Wars, but he said that he already knew what happened in The Clone Wars thanks to what George Lucas told him during filming the prequels. “That was described to me by George Lucas when we were doing Episode III, the things that were going on in-between Episode II and III. So when Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau told me they wanted to explore some of that, I was so game. And I loved how it came out.”
Seeing Christensen’s excitement makes me so happy
It hasn’t been an easy road for Christensen, who was mocked by “fans” when the prequels were being released. I thought I would never see him take on Anakin again. Luckily, as millennials grew up and got to voice how much we loved those movies, we were gifted with Christensen’s return to us. He has done conventions, been a part of two Disney+ shows, and shown fans everywhere what our love and admiration mean to him.
At Star Wars Celebration last year, Christensen cried over the cheers we all shared because it has been such a road to get him back to us. So, to see this excitement and this hope for his role in the Star Wars stories we’re telling now? It just means a lot to the kid in me. I used to have such anger for those who were trashing the movies I loved so dearly, and I thought it ruined my chance of ever seeing Christensen again.
Now? To see this? It just makes me incredibly emotional knowing that Christensen is happy about Star Wars once again. I hope he does get to explore more of The Clone Wars and that he keeps popping up as Anakin. It’s what we all deserve.
(featured image: Disney+)
