Adding to the list of ‘things that could have made Star Wars: The Last Jedi at least semi-watchable’, writer/director Rian Johnson has teased another character that almost appeared but was left in the ‘almost made it’ pile… Anakin Skywalker.
In a recent Twitter exchange, the director revealed that in the movie, when Luke’s collection of Jedi text were set on fire in the tree, we almost had Hayden Christensen return in the role rather than Yoda, as we got in the final movie.
The director revealed that Anakin WAS considered to return but in the end, they went with weird-looking Yoda: “Briefly for the tree burning scene, but Luke’s relationship was with Vader, not really Anakin, which seemed like it would complicate things more than that moment allowed. Yoda felt like the more impactful teacher for that moment.”
Every movie in the sequel trilogy so far has had a rumour that Christensen was returning and it looks like in the second movie he genuinely almost did – yes, I know his voice appears in Rey’s battle in The Rise of Skywalker.
I don’t see why this would have been a problem as we know that Luke saw his father as a young man in Return of the Jedi on Endor (as per the most recent cuts) and therefore Luke would have been familiar with who his father was… he wouldn’t want to speak with Vader, he’d want to speak to Anakin.
Personally, while it’s always fun to have Yoda on screen, I would have loved to have seen this happen.
What say you all? Would you have liked to see Anakin in The Last Jedi? I know I would have loved to.
Briefly for the tree burning scene, but luke’s relationship was with Vader not really anakin, which seemed like it would complicate things more than that moment allowed. Yoda felt like the more impactful teacher for that moment.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) December 1, 2020
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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