Obi-Wan Kenobi: Hayden Christensen Put On 25-30 Pounds For "Vader Body"

By Jamie Jirak

Obi-Wan Kenobi only has one episode left on Disney+, but it's been an exciting ride for fans of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. The new series marks 17 years since the actors stepped back into their iconic roles and it's really the first time Christensen has gotten to play the fully-formed version of Vader. During a recent interview with Fatherly, Christensen talked about preparing for the role and readying his "Vader body."

"I think that process was very important for me," Christensen explained. "I needed to become that character again, physically. I just consumed as many calories as possible. I put on 25 or 30 pounds to fill out that [Darth Vader] suit." Christensen explained that the process took about nine months, but he chose not to maintain his Vader bod after the production was over. "I try to avoid the dad bod thing," he explained with a chuckle. "And I was trying to maintain that Vader body after we finished. But, honestly, I pretty much just went back to my old diet. I kind of deflated after that."

In response to ScreenRant asking Christensen about reprising his role for a future project, the actor shared, "I don't know. I can't answer that question. I certainly would love to continue with this character, and I feel like there's more there to do. But we'll see... In preparing for this, I did as much research as I could. And I got to read some of these Darth Vader comics, these standalone comics that just focus on Darth Vader, and [there's] some really interesting stuff there. I don't know. But yeah, I would love to get to do this again."

During a recent chat with Nerdist, director Deborah Chow explained why Christensen's return was so important.

"Obviously, we're so connected to the prequels," Chow said of Obi-Wan Kenobi. "We're bringing back Ewan and looking back at the character, Anakin plays such a big role in Obi-Wan's life. So much of the weight that we're coming in with the series is coming out of what happened in Revenge of the Sith. It felt very natural to have Hayden be part of this. I think for us, so much of what we're exploring is the emotional relationship between the two of them. To have that emotion, it obviously connects very strongly to Hayden."

The finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi drops on Disney+ on June 22nd.

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