Hayden Christensen is someone who has known the pain of what the “Fandom Menace” and their trolling can do not only to fans but to the creatives as well. As a young 19 year old, Christensen joined one of the biggest franchises in the world and was cruelly mocked by adults who thought that they had the right to hate on the prequel movies. Throughout the years, the kids of the prequels (myself included) grew up thinking the movies that meant the world to us, because we were the kids that they were intended for, “sucked.”
Luckily, those of us who found our own love of Star Wars through these movies decided we were going to loudly share our love for them. We started to be proud fans of the prequels and we decided that we weren’t going to stop sharing our love for them just because people who claim to be fans of the franchise didn’t like them.
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And it has since ushered in a world of fans bringing their love for Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker. The last few years has seen the return to Christensen and McGregor not only to conventions but to the Disney+ television show Obi-Wan Kenobi and it feels like all those years of pain is now showing both McGregor and Christensen how loved they are.
Which is why Christensen crying at the live stage at Star Wars Celebration really hit home and made fans of the actor and the prequels as a whole emotional too. And McGregor also was emotional on the Obi-Wan Kenobi panel as well because it’s just been such a long journey to get to the praise we are now seeing for the team as a whole.
The love we have for Christensen
At the live stage, fans were cheering for him every chance they could while host Krystina Arielle also shared her love for Christensen and the prequels with him in their chat. It was an emotional moment because we could see just how overwhelmed Christensen got when the audience continued to share their love with him. And as someone who waited nearly 2 decades to meet him, I understand why he has been so emotional over fans sharing their love and support.
But seeing him cry on that stage really did show what those “Fandom Menace” trolls can do to the confidence someone has in their work. You can tell that Christensen genuinely loves and appreciates when prequel fans share with him their love and support. This though was an emotional ride because that love we all have for Christensen was on full display and you can tell that it meant a lot to him to see how much we wanted to cheer him on.
It was a great moment to share with Star Wars fans and a great sob fest among fellow prequel kids.
I hope we do see more of Hayden Christensen in Star Wars. It’s what he deserves and what we, as fans, want to see.
(Featured image: Jun Sato/WireImage)
