I have to admit, I have mixed emotions about Christensen's return. I hope, GOD, I hope that not under the direction of Lucas, we get to see the actor shine in the roles of both Vader AND Anakin. At the same point, from a story perspective, I have to wonder how they're going to do this. If its primarily in the form of vision or flashback, I'm fine with that. If its more contemporary with the events of the series, Vader's "You should not have come back" line from ANH is intriguing enough for there to be a little follow-up, but will adding another confrontation between them muddy the waters? I'm sure these are all factors the creatives took into account when setting this up, but still... the question remains.
Hayden Christensen back is something odd. I can see if it's meant to be some sort of flashback/Force vision/hallucination sort of thing, though they'll have to get around the fact that Christensen is almost twenty years older than he should be. If Vader is showing up in the suit, they can just get any tall guy in to stand in, like the guy they used for Rogue One, with James Earl Jones doing the voice.
So I do believe I might have said here or somewhere that there was IMO another battler between Vader and Kenobi because of the line "A presence I have not felt since..." which left the door open for other encounters. I had thought Maul might be the antogonist and have it as a side story to what we saw in rebels but having Vader and Christensen back is very welcomed. We are living in an era of redemption for Star Wars characters and actors of the prequel series. Hayden Christensen is a good actor. I hope we get to see Vader's castle again, that would be sweet, oh and maybe the Emperor will pop up? Oh.. OH! What if Vader bumps into Maul and they fight?!
I agree, I think he did a good job in shattered glasses. And It is known that Lucas can't direct or advise actors, besides telling them to "faster and more intense".
I think a lot of people (not saying anyone here, just people in general) just assume that actors go out there and say their lines and the director just frames the scene and shoots it. Sadly, it doesn't work that way; even the best actors require the aid of a director who knows how to help them find the emotional core of the scene. The prequels were littered with quality actors but very few of them came off particularly well.
I think the fact that they're saying Hayden Christensen is playing Darth Vader and not Anakin Skywalker could indicate whatever role has is in the show's present. If was just for flashbacks they probably would've said Anakin instead of Vader.
Reminds me of what Samuel L Jackson said in response to people criticize Jake Lloyd. "He was only a kid working with a director who doesn't know how to work with actors. How good could his performance be under those circumstances?"
Crazy idea: Besides wearing the suit and/or appearing outside of the suit, Hayden could be voicing Vader's internal monologue/telepathic voice. This would contradict ESB I suppose, but it seems like the suit would only affect his physical speech unless he somehow chose to sound like James Earl Jones in telepathic communication as well.
Probably because that would be the only voice Luke would have known at that time. Obi-wan, having yet to meet the Vader in the suit, would only know Anakin's voice.
Maybe they cloned Anakin from the hand he lost on Geonosis. So we are meeting a young Anakin, and in the Mandalorian we can meet An adult, good Anakin Or am I over reaching?
Not sure if they'd go for it, but Hayden Christensen showing up as Anakin on The Mandalorian would be an amazing season ending cliffhanger.
I was also trying to remember if there's any reason for Obi-Wan and Vader not to have met between ROTS and ANH. Obi-Wan does say Vader is "more machine now than man," which was not true at their last on screen meeting. Of course, it's not a stretch that Obi-Wan is aware of what Vader became without having seen it himself. I think that's what we've assumed, given Obi-Wan's exile. Still, as far as I remember from the movies, I think the writers have a little room to fudge another encounter.
This might be a bit involved(Makeup) but what if they had Hayden in unmasked scenes? Darth Vader in his own quarters without the helmet. Would that dilute/lessen the impact of seeing Darth Vader without his mask? I feel like if we see it so much then then shock value wears off. We've only seen it briefly in different movies and media -Revenge of the sith -Empire strikes back -Return of the Jedi -Rogue one
I've seen people bring up that line before as if it's evidence of Kenobi encountering Vader post-Mustafar, but it really isn't, and for one very simple reason: context! That line is delivered in RotJ, AFTER Kenobi faced Vader on the Death Star and achieved oneness with the universe. Of course he knows he's 1) alive and 2) a cyborg *because we saw them fight.*
It's been more than 40 years. I think the moment has been earned and new aspects of the character of Vader need to be explored if they are to create new media. With all the Star Wars content out there a lot of Vader's mystic is already diminished. Games, fan movies, comics, not to mention the prequels, yippee! He was also briefly unmasked in Rebels by Ahsoka during their fight, even that Master/ Apprentice relationship changes the dynamic of the character.