what might have been

Hayden Christensen Almost Made an Appearance in The Force Awakens. Better Luck in Episode VIII, Hayden Heads!

Photo: Lucasfilm

Spoiler alert etc. etc. If you’re anything like me, you spent the entirety of The Force Awakens thinking, “Boy, this is good, but it could really use some Hayden Christensen right about now!” It took all the strength in your body not to scream, “Give us Hayden! The people demand it!” at the screen, right? It’s painful now to realize how close we were to getting our Hayden Christensen fix. According to Star Wars concept artist Iain McCaig, the Attack of the Clones star was at one point going to cameo in The Force Awakens … as a spooky dad spirit. “’When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.’ That inspired me to propose, for the first time, that Anakin’s ghost could come back,” McCaig explains in the film’s concept-art book Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The resulting artwork depicted Christensen as an ominous Darth Vader hybrid, while other concepts hinted that a more benign Anakin Skywalker could make an appearance. In the end neither Anakin nor Darth showed up in the film, but that doesn’t mean Hayden Christensen might not appear in Episode VIII or IX. Something to look forward to for all you Hayden Christensen fans out there!

Hayden Christensen’s Force Awakens Almost Cameo