Obi-Wan Kenobi: Hayden Christensen binged Star Wars animated shows to prepare for return as Anakin

Christensen revealed his admiration for ‘The Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’

Hayden Christensen took his research seriously before returning to his most famous role as Anakin Skywalker in the forthcoming Disney+ spin-off series, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Christensen will star alongside his former Jedi master Ewan McGregor in the series, which premieres 27 May.

McGregor told Entertainment Weekly that he’d watched “all nine” Star Wars films to reimmerse himself in George Lucas’s sci-fi universe, but Christensen went a step further, watching the recent animated series on top of the original movies.

“I also got into the animated shows, The Clone Wars and Rebels,” Christensen said of the Cartoon Network and Disney series.

“They did a lot with these characters [Anakin and Obi-Wan] in those shows. And they did further explore the relationship. There was interesting stuff there to learn about. It was great fun getting to go back and re-immerse yourself in this world that just continues to grow and become more and more vast.”

Christensen is himself slated to star in Disney+’s upcoming live-action series Ahsoka, based on a character created for The Clone Wars.

In the interview with EW, McGregor revealed it was the first time he had watched his Star Wars movies since their release. “It was cool to see and interesting to watch them and enjoy them without all of the noise that was around when they came out,” he said.