Plagued by nightmares of the woman he loved dying, Anakin Skywalker was easily manipulated by Chancellor Palpatine into turning to the Dark Side in Revenge of the Sith. Feeling betrayed by the Jedi and believing that joining the Sith was the only way to save Padme's life, the Jedi Knight made a fateful decision that saw him descend into madness and evil.
By the time Obi-Wan Kenobi confronted "Darth Vader" on Mustafar, it appeared he was too far gone to be saved. Or was he?
During a recent interview with Fatherly (via SFFGazette.com), it was put to Hayden Christensen that there's a chance Anakin could have returned to the Light had he only known about his children, Luke and Leia. "It’s pretty tragic that he was unaware of his children," the actor admits. "I think you’re onto something there. But what do you think?"
It's an interesting theory. At that point, had Anakin got to see Padme give birth moments before she died, it may well have helped him come back from the darkness he'd embraced. Alternatively, Anakin may have decided to take his children on as apprentices, bringing them up as Sith either with the Emperor or after overthrowing his Master! It's hard to say.
Elsewhere in the interview, Christensen talked about donning Vader's formidable suit again. "I think that process was very important for me," the actor explained. "I needed to become that character again, physically. I just consumed as many calories as possible. I put on 25 or 30 pounds to fill out that [Darth Vader] suit."
"I try to avoid the dad bod thing," he joked. "And I was trying to maintain that Vader body after we finished. But, honestly, I pretty much just went back to my old diet. I kind of deflated after that."
Christensen has talked on multiple occasions now about his hopes to reprise the role of Anakin/Vader, whether it be in another project or his own spinoff. Lucasfilm must have noticed the overwhelmingly positive response to the villain's return, so we'd be shocked if the actor isn't given that opportunity sooner rather than later.
The final episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi hits Disney+ next Wednesday!