‘It’s Very Cool’: Hayden Christensen Reacts to Renewed Appreciation for Star Wars Prequels
Hayden Christensen reveals the “vindication” he feels with the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
The Star Wars prequels may not have been popular when they first came out, but Hayden Christensen is grateful they have a fan base decades later.
“I think that those movies have held up well over time,” Christensen remarked to Empire on the legacy of George Lucas prequel trilogy’s 25 years after Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’s release. For Christensen, who took over from Jake Lloyd as an older Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, seeing a new generation of the Star Wars community embrace all three movies “feels like vindication for the work that we did. Everyone that worked on those movies thought that we were part of something special. We all wanted to do our very best work, and we took care of a lot about it. And so to see the response from the fans now, it’s very cool.”
At the time of their release, the prequels were a massive subject of pop culture backlash, with critics and fans decrying multiple elements of each film — including the dialogue, digital effects, and controversial characters like Jar-Jar Binks — and how they compared to Lucas’ original trilogy. This included Christensen’s portrayal of Anakin, though the actor expressed pride at Lucas’ willingness to show Anakin’s full turn to the Dark Side, even killing Jedi younglings during Episode III’s assault on the Jedi Temple. “There was a lot of talk about us doing that scene, and I love that George did it. It was a bold move. And it’s shocking,” he recalled, adding, “Kids seem to forget about that scene when they met me! There’s not any fear or intimidation. They’re just excited to meet Anakin.”
Eventually, animated series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels will retroactively expand upon the prequel era’s storylines and characters, thereby properly fleshing out Anakin’s tragic path to becoming Vader. These cartoons, in turn, had a massive impact on newer Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka, all of which adapted formally animation-exclusive characters to live-action for the first time. The Clone Wars and Rebels also influenced Christensen, who studied both cartoons to play Anakin and Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi and, more recently, a Clone Wars-era version of Anakin opposite Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano in Ahsoka.
Star Wars will continue its animated storyline later this month with The Bad Batch’s final season, whose trailer teases the return of The Clone Wars’ ex-Sith Asajj Ventress. Upcoming films, meanwhile, include a theatrical continuation of The Mandalorian and an untitled post-The Rise of Skywalker story starring Daisy Ridley’s Rey.
