Star Wars Rumor Claims Hayden Christensen Returning for Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ Series

A new Star Wars rumor claims that Star Wars Prequel star Hayden Christensen will once again play Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+. In fact, LRM claims that Christensen's Anakin Skywalker will be a "regular" in the Obi-Wan series after a planned cameo role expanded into something much bigger during negotiations. A formal deal between Christensen and Lucasfilm is said to be done, and there's mention that this would've been a major announcement made at Star Wars Celebration 2020; with the festival now delayed until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic, we will reportedly get confirmation of the casting when production starts on the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

There's no explanation given for how Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker will fit into the storyline of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series - but it's not hard to theorize:

A big part of the Obi-Wan series that fans expect to see is how the Jedi master and former general used his time on Tatooine to master the technique of becoming a Force ghost, able to still communicate with the living even after death. That metaphysical journey open things up to all sorts of flashbacks or fantasy visions, in which Anakin Skywalker makes a reappearance.

Another theory is that Obi-Wan could still be haunted by a mental figment of Anakin. Christensen could once again play Anakin in his Jedi phase, or appear as the dark side version of the character that Kenobi battled on Mustafar.

Taking that idea a step further: given what we saw in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, it would be interesting if Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader still had some kind of interaction through the Force, and Vader's mental projection is in the form of his Anakin Skywalker persona. It would make sense that Vader wouldn't project himself in his armored costume, as in his mind he would likely still imagine himself looking like Anakin Skywalker. A New Hope proved that Vader and Obi-Wan are very much connected and able to sense one another through the Force, and in the era before the Original Trilogy, Vader was actively searching for surviving Jedi like Obi-Wan, and presumably learning his own new Force techniques. He and Obi-Wan making contact at some point is a retcon that still arguably fits in the boundary of A New Hope's dialogue and storyline. It would allow Hayden Christensen to essentially play an age-appropriate version of Anakin/Vader without the armor, which might be the most fun for both fans and Christensen.

But however it happens, we hope Hayden Christensen gets a new chance to prove his acting prowess to the Star Wars fandom.

The Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series is expected to go into production in 2021.