When an actor is set to reprise their role from nearly two decades ago, they tend to ease into it a bit. Take Jamie Lee Curtis, for example, who would appear every so often in a Halloween movie, before giving the series an emotional conclusion.
That’s not the case for Hayden Christensen, who is preparing to return as Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Christensen famously left his character behind and didn’t return to the famous franchise until now. Obviously, a lot has changed since he last played Anakin in 2005, and he needs to do his research.
To prepare for his role, Christensen decided to dive straight into his character’s lore and watch The Clone Wars and Rebels, two character-heavy animated shows set in the Star Wars universe. The actor spoke to Entertainment Weekly to discuss how he got ready to re-immerse himself into the universe.
“It was interesting,” Christensen told EW. “They did a lot with these characters in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.” A lot has changed since Christensen last starred in a Star Wars movie, most notably the fact that it’s now a giant Disney property, and there are several dozen new characters.
Christensen will reunite with co-star Ewan McGregor for the series. McGregor also admitted that he marathoned all Star Wars movies to prepare to return to the universe. “I watched them from start to finish,” McGregor told EW. “All nine movies. Just to get back in that world.” Perhaps if they really wanted to immerse themselves in the universe, they would visit Galaxy’s Edge and wait in line for The Rise Of The Resistance ride for several hours.
This isn’t the last time Christensen will reprise his role as Vadar/Anakin: last fall, Disney also announced that he would appear in the upcoming Ashoka series based on the female padawan who should have had her own show a long time ago!
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on May 27th on Disney+.