“Talent without training is nothing” says Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, and it seems that Hayden Christensen took that to heart when reprising his Star Wars prequel role of Anakin Skywalker for the forthcoming series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Fans were thrilled when news broke that Christensen was returning, and the actor took the commitment to heart by binging all of the Star Wars-related content made since he first donned Darth Vader’s helmet at the close of 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
Of particular importance was the Emmy-winning animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and its follow-up, Star Wars: Rebels. The former delved deeply into the battle brother relationship between his character and Ewan McGregor‘s Obi-Wan Kenobi, which sours when Skywalker turns to the Dark Side.
The latter series also featured Vader, and climaxed with a heartbreaking confrontation between Vader and his former Clone Wars student, Ahsoka Tano.
“They did a lot with these characters in those shows,” Christensen tells Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts May 27 with two episodes on Disney+.
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