Obi-Wan Kenobi star talks scrapped Disney scripts

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Hayden Christensen was never privy to the bleak, earlier scripts for the Disney+ miniseries.

17 years on from his transformation as Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader – Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan left him for dead on Mustafar after lightsabering off his legs and left arm – he's back under the iconic black helmet for the reunion to end all reunions.

In an exclusive chat with Digital Spy, we asked Christensen about the evolution of the new show.

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"Well, that's hard for me to speak to," he said. "I didn't see the previous iterations of the show. So when I got involved, this was the project that I got involved with. The first time I read the scripts, I was blown away."

Further along, the Jumper actor also weighed in on the challenges of returning to Vader.

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"The challenging aspect of playing this character, ultimately, has to do with the physicality of being in the suit. That costume is obviously very iconic, and it's been previously established.

"There's a lot of continuity we need to adhere to, and how he moves, and all of that. So just trying to get that right, that was very important to all of us."

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Now he's back in the swing of things – no lightsaber jokes, please – Christensen is part of the Ahsoka cast too, which is a small screen adventure for Rosario Dawson's Jedi.

It's not yet clear how he'll fit into the story, considering Ahsoka is set five years after Vader's death (see Return of the Jedi), but some rumours suggest flashbacks or Force Ghosting.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming weekly on Disney+.

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Dan Seddon

Reporter, Digital Spy

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.