After years of rumors, Hayden Christensen is returning to the Star Wars universe.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the beloved actor will return as Anakin Skywalker.
This latest piece of casting news reveals Christensen will appear on the forthcoming Star Wars spinoff series Ahsoka.
Ahsoka nabbed a formal pickup last year alongside a plethora of other spinoffs.
Rosario Dawson played the role of Ahsoka on The Mandalorian Season 2, but the character originated on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and animated series.
Dave Filoni is set to pen the script for the series, and The Mandalorian’s Jon Favreau set as Executive Producer.
Details of the series have largely been scarce since the pickup with Disney prioritizing filming of the Boba Fett spinoff to have the series ready for the end of the year.
Production is set to commence next year, and given the immense special effects involved in these projects, we shouldn’t expect a premiere until 2023 at the earliest.
Dawson won fast praise when the character was introduced on The Mandalorian.
“[O]ne of the most compelling things about introducing Ahsoka is that she is one of the few, few people that we could encounter in a story and she would say, ‘All right. I met someone like [the Child]. I’ve only ever seen one other being like this,’” Filoni explained in an interview with Vanity Fair last year.
“I had to stop myself from doing something ridiculous like have her say, ‘Is that a Yoda baby?’ It almost demands to be said.”
Dawson herself explained in the same interview that her casting was down to the fans.
“Someone tweeted me and fan-cast me,” Dawson said.
“I retweeted back and I was like, ‘Absolutely, yes please’ and ‘#AhsokaLives.’ And apparently that got the attention of someone who has been doing the Star Wars press for years.”
“She forwarded it to Dave Filoni. That kind of started a whole thing. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, did I just get fan-cast in something?’ And then nothing happened.”
“That was the first time and I looked at Rosario and I thought, Huh. Yeah, I think maybe she would make a good Ahsoka. I just kept loosely aware of what she was up to, and she was doing some Marvel things.
” “But I’d seen interviews with her where she would talk about wanting to play the character and her excitement, so it was interesting.”
As for Christensen, he starred in Star Wars Episode II — Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
This is not the first Star Wars show on Disney+ he is set to appear in. It was announced lasty year that he would be joining Ewan McGregor on the forthcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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