Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and its subsequent sequel, Revenge of the Sith, were some of the biggest turning points for the Star Wars franchise and all of its loyal fans. 

For actor Hayden Christensen, it was also a turning point in his career. 

In an exclusive interview with Empire, he shares everything from the start of his journey to becoming the legendary hero turned villain, to where it has led him today. 

When starting as an actor, Christensen mostly acted in guest spots and some regular appearance roles in series, showing up in shows such as Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Goosebumps and the 2000’s series Higher Ground.

But when it came to Star Wars, he didn’t expect to become Anakin Skywalker. While he knew about the Star Wars franchise and was excited about these new films as a fan, he felt that since over 1,500 actors were going for the role, with big names like Leonardo DiCaprio in talks, he would not land it.

Even with that mindset, he got the role. Christensen says that during that time, he learned so much about acting and working in the industry. Even so, he had to face one of the biggest challenges in his acting career up until that point, the diehard fans of the Star Wars series. 

At the time, many of the fans didn’t enjoy the new set of films coming out and also had issues with Christensen’s performance. However, he says that it was because fans came in with a preconceived notion of how they thought certain characters should act. But, a recent resurgence in enjoyment for these films made Christensen feel vindicated about the cast and crew’s work on the film.

Although he was reminiscing on one of the biggest moments in his career, his role in Star Wars didn’t stop there, as he continued to play both Darth Vader and Anakin in both the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka series. Christensen said he felt grateful that he got to go back into the Star Wars universe and give more depth to the character.

If there was one thing the actor took from his experiences, both on and off the screen, is patience. Although his relationship with Star Wars has been bumpy throughout the years, Christensen says he has a good relationship with the franchise now, but it took patience to get there.