Hayden Christensen Shares How His Daughter Helped Him Prepare for Obi-Wan Kenobi

Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen revealed the adorable way his daughter Briar Rose helped him get ready to reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker on the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

By Emlyn Travis Jun 25, 2022 6:33 PMTags
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*This article contains spoilers for the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi*

It appears The Force is strong with the entire Christensen family.  

Hayden Christensen shared the special way his 7-year-old daughter Briar Rose, who he shares with ex Rachel Bilson, helped him get ready for his return as Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader) in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.  

"We have a couple lightsabers kicking around the house," Hayden said on the June 24 episode of The Tonight Show. "She was my first lightsaber training partner when I came back to the Obi-Wan show." 

The Star Wars actor told host Jimmy Fallon that while his daughter "knows Daddy's Darth Vader," she's "never seen Daddy as Darth Vader," at least not yet.  

"I'm still waiting a little bit, you know, until that happens," Hayden explained. "I might show her the prequels soon…But still, there's some scenes we might have to fast forward through."  

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Hayden brought Anakin Skywalker's slow turn to the Dark Side to life in two installments of the Star Wars prequel trilogy: 2002's Attack of the Clones and 2005's Revenge of the Sith

While the actor made a brief voice cameo as Anakin in the 2019 sequel The Rise of SkywalkerObi-Wan Kenobi is Hayden's first time officially stepping back into the character in over 17 years. 

And with it came some exciting new discoveries, like the joy of watching people on set react to seeing Darth Vader in real life

"You see, sort of, the change in their demeanor, you know? People who are usually very confident become a little more timid and shy," he joked. "It's good fun." 

He added, "It's an amazing costume to get to put on. It's an honor to get to wear it." 

While the actor remained tight-lipped about what exactly went down in the finale of the Disney+ series, which came to a dramatic close on June 22, Hayden did reveal that there was one scene that was a pleasure to film with his longtime co-star Ewan McGregor.  

"There's very emotional confrontation between Obi-Wan and Vader that was a real privilege to get to film with Ewan," he said. "I love the man to bits." 

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family).

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