President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, announced at the Disney Investors Day presentation that Hayden Christensen will be reprising the role of Darth Vader in the upcoming Disney+ limited series of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It was also revealed that the upcoming limited series will be set ten years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, in which it will build up to, in Kathleen Kennedy’s words, ‘The rematch of the century’.
Hayden Christensen portrayed Anakin Skywalker in 2002’s Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones and in 2005’s Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, where he and Obi-Wan Kenobi had a heated battle that led to the end of their friendship and the corruption of Anakin to become evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Hayden Christensen released a statement saying:
It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker. Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in store for us all. I’m excited to work with Ewan again. It feels good to be back.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series has been in development for some time, though at the start of the year it was reported that the series was put on hold due to ‘script problems’, with Ewan McGregor dismissing the rumours. The series is being written by Joby Harold and will be directed by Deborah Chow.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is currently scheduled to commence production in Spring 2021.