Star Wars: Hayden Christensen Is “Reluctant” for His Daughter to See Him Play Darth Vader

Years after bidding farewell to Anakin Skywalker in the tragic finale of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Hayden Christensen finally got the chance to dive into the Darth Vader portion of his character in the . For the first time, Christensen embodied the iconic Star Wars villain, pitting him up against his former master once again. Fans have long wanted to see Christensen play a fully realized version of Darth Vader, but the actor still isn’t quite ready to show his daughter what he looks like in the mask and cape.

During a conversation with Andor star Diego Luna for Variety‘s Actors on Actors, Christensen said that he’s not quite prepared for his eight-year-old daughter to see him playing such a scary character. 

“Have her see me in the [Darth Vader outfit]? Well, hasn’t happened yet,” he said. “She’s eight now. I don’t know if I can wait much longer. I know I’ve been dragging my feet a little bit. She knows that I’m in Star Wars and that I played this character, but she’s never seen it yet. I’m getting to that. I’m trying to figure out the best sort of point of entry.”

Fortunately, Obi-Wan Kenobi also gave Christensen the chance to film some scenes as Anakin, without the Darth Vader costume on, and he was able to bring his daughter to see him film some of those.

“There are some disturbing scenes I’m reluctant for her to see at this age. But it was really nice getting to do the Obi-Wan show and actually bring her to set,” Christensen said. “Not when I was in the Darth Vader outfit, but we did the flashback sequence and I got to play Anakin. She got to see me swing a lightsaber with Ewan [McGregor]. She was very concerned for my wellbeing. She was afraid that one of us were going to get hurt.”

For now, there’s no telling if Obi-Wan Kenobi will be the final time we get to see Hayden Christensen suit up for Star Wars.