Star Wars: Hayden Christensen Reflects on How Playing Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi Was “Surreal”

Star Wars fans are already excited enough to see Ewan McGregor reprise his role as a Jedi Master for the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but fans are also excited to see Hayden Christensen return to the franchise to bring Darth Vader to life, which the actor recalled as being a “surreal” experience. The actor debuted in the franchise with Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and, while audiences knew his character’s trajectory, we only saw brief glimpses of the actor as Darth Vader in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, with the upcoming series allowing audiences the chance to see even more of his take on the villainous character. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 25th.

“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,” Christensen shared with Entertainment Weekly. “One of the things I loved so much about working on Star Wars projects is just that shared excitement. That everyone’s real excited to be there. You feel that energy, and that’s a really special thing.”

While McGregor played Obi-Wan in three films, Christensen only brought Anakin Skywalker to life for two films, which also meant that Christensen finally got to continue the journey he kicked off all those years ago to further explore the figure behind the villainous armor.

“Well, without getting into too much detail, it was amazing. It’s a great honor to get to put that suit on,”  the actor shared with the outlet. “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. 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.”

Above all else, it seems what resonated most with the actor is reuniting with his costar, as Christensen confessed, “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. 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.”

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 25th.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!