It’s been 17 years since Hayden Christensen was last seen in a galaxy far, far away, and the Vancouver-born actor recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about returning to his “Star Wars” role of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
According to series director Deborah Chow, she pitched Christensen the concept during an in-person visit to his farm in Uxbridge, Ontario.
“It was really nice because we sort of met up in Canada,” Chow explained. “And obviously with people like Ewan and Hayden, they’ve been these characters for so long and they obviously did them in the prequels and they’ve lived with this character in their lives for so long that they just know the character so well, which makes it so helpful in terms of the creative.”
Asked what it was like to don Vader’s iconic black costume after all those years, Christensen responded, “Well, without getting into too much detail, it was amazing. It’s a great honour to get to put that suit on.”
According to Christensen, he was intrigued by the idea of revisiting the role.
READ MORE: Hayden Christensen To Return As Darth Vader In Ewan McGregor’s Disney+ ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Series
“It was mostly a lot of excitement because I had spent enough time with this character and felt like I knew him, and coming back to it felt very natural in a lot of ways,” Christensen said. “And I was just really excited to get to come in and play Darth Vader at this point in the timeline because it did feel like a natural continuation of your journey with the character. And that was very meaningful for me.”
However, that’s not to say there wasn’t some strangeness as well.
“The whole experience was very surreal. Just the nature of coming back after all this time. It’s such a unique opportunity — one that both Ewan and I were very grateful for,” he said.
When it comes to spilling secrets and spoilers, Christensen has learned how to keep tight-lipped.
“I don’t know what I can share in terms of behind-the-scenes-type stuff because I don’t think they want me saying too much,” he said. “But I can tell you the first time that I saw Ewan as Obi-Wan again, that was a very special moment for me and one that I’ll remember for a very, very long time.”
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“Obi-Wan Kenobi” premieres on May 25.
