Star Wars: Hayden Christensen and Diego Luna Discuss Their Unexpected Franchise Returns

Hayden Christensen and Diego Luna are the latest duo to sit down together and chat for Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series. Of course, the men share one very big thing in common: Star Wars. Christensen first joined the franchise for 2002’s Star Wars: Attack of the Clones as Anakin Skywalker before becoming Darth Vader in 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Last year, Christensen made his long-awaited return as the character in the Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. As for Diego, the star originally played Cassian Andor in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before starring in the Disney+ prequel series, Star Wars: Andor, which also debuted last year. During their chat, Christensen and Luna discussed their unexpected returns to Star Wars.

“I thought that my Star Wars days were behind me, and then I got a phone call inviting me to come back. I would imagine maybe you had a similar thing with when you finished Rogue One. Did you know were going to get to continue with it?” Christensen asked Luna. “It was a joke on set,” Luna replied. “‘One day, we should tell how these people got here’  But we never took it seriously. We didn’t know if the film was going to be liked or if we were going to be the film no one went to see. We had to wait for the film to come out to understand that there was room for something like this.” 

Christensen added, “And Andor is so successful, too. It’s a great origin story for the beginning of the rebellion and getting to see the arc of your character and how he starts off at this place where he doesn’t really want anything to do with any of this. He just wants to keep to himself. But his destiny is calling.” Luna replied, “I think it’s because you know what he’s capable of. So the interesting journey is how far can we start from that? How lost can he be? It’s a show about his flaws and that contradiction that makes us real. We’re not always the best version of ourselves. It was nice to find him in the worst version of Cassian possible.”

Luna asked, “When you decided to come back for the Obi-Wan series, what was behind that decision?” Christensen explained, “Just the nature of getting the invitation. Star Wars holds a very special place in my heart. I enjoyed getting to go back to being a fan again and just watching these stories like everyone else. But there was a part of me that missed it, too. So when I got the call, it was a very easy decision. And the fact that it was the Obi-Wan show with Ewan McGregor, who is a good friend of mine, and that I’d get to swing a lightsaber with him again, it was a thrilling invitation. The director, Deborah Chow, is so articulate about what Star Wars is. She understands these characters so well. So I just felt like I was in good hands with her, and I was excited to get to do more with the character.”

Which Star Wars Show Is Being Released Next?

Fan-favorite Star Wars hero Ahsoka Tano returns in the brand new series on Disney+. Rosario Dawson stars in Star Wars: Ahsoka, premiering in August on the streamer. The series picks up after the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which we saw the former Jedi searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and helping Luke Skywalker train Grogu. Ahsoka will be joined on her new mission alongside longtime allies Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to track down Thrawn, who was last seen disappearing to the far reaches of space after a confrontation with Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Star Wars: Ahsoka is the latest live-action series from Lucasfilm’s creative duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. Ahsoka is expected to debut in August.