With the arrival of Revenge Of The Sith, Hayden Christensen thought his time as Anakin Skywalker was over, having picked up the baton (or, lightsaber hilt) from Jake Lloyd and plunged the Jedi Knight into darkness. But as it turned out, he wasn’t done quite yet. In recent years, Christensen has returned to Star Wars on screen in Obi-Wan Kenobi and most recently in Ahsoka, once again portraying Anakin (and Vader) in fights, flashbacks, Force-fuelled visions and more. Most notably, in Ahsoka, he got to play a version of Anakin that he’d never played before: his Clone Wars incarnation, previously only seen in animated form (and voiced by Matt Lanter) in The Clone Wars series.
As Christensen tells Empire in a major new interview – for our Star Wars prequels 25th anniversary issue – getting to star in live-action opposite Anakin’s one-time Padawan Ahsoka Tano was a big deal. “The scenes that I got to do as Anakin on Ahsoka was a bucket-list item I didn’t even know I had,” he says. “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.’” Though he only watched the animated show in recent years, he was long aware of what happened to Anakin during that time. “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.”
Between sparring with Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds and getting a rematch with Obi-Wan as Darth Vader, Christensen is relishing being back in the galaxy. “When we finished doing the prequels, it felt like that was it, and my journey with the character was over. So to get to come back now and do more with Anakin and Darth Vader was an amazing opportunity,” he says. “The scenes that I got to do as Darth Vader on Obi-Wan, that was huge for me. Being able to add a little bit more connective tissue to the character and to bridge the gap into Vader a little bit more is a very worthwhile thing.” All these years later, he’s still the chosen one.
Read Empire’s full Hayden Christensen interview – and see more images from the shoot – in the Star Wars prequels 25th anniversary issue. Also inside the magazine, we speak to Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Brian Blessed, and more about starring in the films; we revisit iconic sequences with producer Rick McCallum, stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard, and concept designer Iain McCaig, breaking down the Podrace, the Geonosis arena battle, and the Mustafar duel; we get a closer look at rarely-seen concept art from across the trilogy; we speak to designer Ellen Lee Moon on the story behind her legendary Phantom Menace poster, and much, much more. It’s the ultimate look back at the trilogy that changed everything.
Find the issue in all good and evil newsagents – from the core worlds to the outer rim – from Thursday 15 February. Pre-order the issue online – find the light side cover here, and the dark side cover here.