UPDATED: Hayden Christensen set to reprise Anakin role in Obi-Wan series on Disney+?

Originally published on July 15th, 2020 – updated on July 16th.

Well it looks like we’re getting even more good news from the galaxy far, far away.

Now, we’ve heard for a while that Hayden Christensen might be heading back to the world(s) of Star Wars – first he was set to return in The Force Awakens (here), then Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (here) and then in The Rise of Skywalker (here, here and here) – which, for clarity, we believe he did film scenes for which never made the cut, although we DID hear his voice in the final cut of the movie – and now there’s a news rumour touting the return of Anakin Skywalker.

The new report stats that Christensen will be back in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series: “Our source shared with me that the deal is done and Hayden Christensen will be coming back to the Star Wars franchise! The hope was to have the deal done and announce it for Star Wars Celebration.  With Star Wars Celebration on hiatus until 2022 this news will be announced at a later date closer to the beginning of filming.”

The report continues that he is to be a regular on the show, so it’s not a one and done, meaning he will appear on the series quite often, which raises questions about how this could be as at this point in the timeline Anakin is Darth Vader already, so he can’t be a Force Ghost and he  certainly can’t be visiting Obi-Wan because a). he doesn’t know where he is or that he’s still alive and b). he’d be all crispy and evil.

So how could he appear?

Well, it would most likely be in Force dreams or flashbacks that Obi-Wan has as he reflects on the path that led to the downfall of the Republic. It could certainly be a cool way to explore more of the events of the prequels which, oddly, have become more loved since Disney took over the franchise.

It would also be a good way to – presumably with CGI – expand on the friendship of Anakin and Obi-Wan and build on Anakin’s character which many feel was under-developed in the prequels, with him not becoming a fully-fleshed out character until the Clone Wars series.

But the fact is that this is an exciting time in the evolution of Star Wars, with the new series, new movies and more, there’s probably numerous ways Anakin could be used in the story and, honestly, whatever they decide to do is fine by me; I never felt Christensen got fair treatment as Anakin, so maybe Disney, for all their missteps in the Star Wars franchise, could put that one right.

Of course we’ve heard in the past that numerous  characters may be planned for a return, from Mace Windu (here) to Jar-Jar Binks (here), from Qui-Gon(here) to the young Skywalker twins (here) and honestly, given what we know about the story, there’s room for them all and more if the tale is well told – and that’s REALLY exciting.

The Disney+ Obi-Wan series is set to begin production in early 2021 with Ewan McGregor back in the title role and The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow showrunning the six-episode series.

What say you all? Would you welcome Christensen back as Anakin? I know I sure as heck would, so I want to hear what you all think too.

UPDATE:

Further to the story, now scooper Daniel Richtman is reporting that Darth Vader will feature in the series. Could this mean Christensen is playing Vader? Would he wear the suit? Or perhaps, could we see Vader’s tortured psyche going over events or even, perhaps, imagining himself AS Anakin rather than what he has become? Hmmmmmm…

Meanwhile, here’s Christensen talking about playing Anakin Skywalker and why he’d like to return to the role:

Source: LRM