Disney and Lucasfilm’sStar Wars: The Last Jedifeatured a brief but memorable reunion between Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and the Force ghost of Yoda. However, director Rian Johnson revealed that he once considered using Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker for the scene in question instead of the wise Jedi master.
Shortly after failing to convince Rey to refrain from trying toredeem Kylo Ren, Luke sets out to burn the Jedi library on the isolated island of Ahch-To. However, the disillusioned Jedi’s efforts are foiled when his old master, Yoda, returns from the netherworld of the Force and destroys the library himself. As in the old days, Yoda imparts wisdom upon his former pupil, urging Luke to pass on the lessons learned from his failures and join Rey in the Resistance’s battle to defeat the First Order.
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Including Anakin instead of Yoda would have marked the first onscreen appearance between Christensen and Hamill in theStar Warsfranchise. However, it was that very lack of an established relationship between both characters that prompted Johnson toreunite Luke with Yodafor the crucial scene. “Briefly for the tree burning scene, but Luke’s relationship was with Vader not really Anakin, which seemed like it would complicate things more than that moment allowed,” Johnson wrote in a Twitter post responding to a fan’s question regarding whether or not he considered using the fallen Skywalker. “Yoda felt like the more impactful teacher for that moment.”
Christensen ultimately ended up reprising his role as Anakin for a voice-over cameo inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,the concluding chapter of the sequel trilogy and the main saga as a whole. The scene in question involved multiple Jedi from the past encouraging Rey, who was on the verge of being defeated by a resurrected Emperor Palpatine, to summon the strength needed to vanquish the Sith Lord. At one point, Christensen wasrumored to reprise his role as Anakinin Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series through flashbacks depicting critical moments of the Clone Wars, though there has been no official word regarding the veracity of these reports.
With the Skywalker saga now complete, Lucasfilm appears to be focusing its efforts on producingStar Warscontent for Disney+. Jon Favreau’sThe Mandalorianhas already proven to be a hit for the streamer and will be joined by the aforementioned Obi-Wan series as well as aRogue Oneprequeldown the line.
Fans need not wait for those projects to debut on Disney+ for theirStar Warsfix now that theLEGO Star Wars Holiday Specialis available on the streamer. Set after the events ofEpisode IX, the special follows Rey as she travels back in time to various points in theStar Warsfilm series.
