Dave Filoni praises Hayden Christensen’s ‘insane’ lightsaber skills on “Ahsoka”: ‘He is the Chosen One’

The ‘Ahsoka’ creator explains how and why he resurrected Anakin Skywalker for the Disney+ series.

It’s been more than 20 years since Hayden Christensen made his debut as Anakin Skywalker, first picking up a lightsaber in 2002’s Attack of the Clones. But when the 42-year-old actor showed up to reprise his role in Ahsoka, his lightsaber skills were anything but rusty.

The actor returned to the Star Wars galaxy this year with Ahsoka, sharing the screen with Rosario Dawson’s titular warrior. Ahsoka was Anakin’s original Jedi Padawan, and the two have a long history in the Clone Wars animated series, as Ahsoka watched her former friend and mentor succumb to the dark side. The former master and apprentice cross lightsabers again in the Disney+ series, and series creator Dave Filoni had nothing but praise for Christensen’s “ferocity of performance.”

“His lightsaber skills are just insane,” Filoni tells EW, shaking his head. “I mean, he is the Chosen One. There is no doubt.”

Filoni says he’s wanted to work with Christensen for years, ever since they met backstage and had an “instant connection” at a past Star Wars Celebration. Together, they bonded over their shared experiences working with George Lucas: Christensen obviously starred in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, while Filoni developed the animated Clone Wars series, exploring Anakin’s journey between the two films.

“It was kind of amazing to have somebody who had this experience, too, who would know the things I was talking about related to Anakin and how George saw him,” Filoni says. “We really understood each other and the language of it."

Christensen has revisited the role before, most recently appearing in flashbacks and as Darth Vader in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series. But Ahsoka is set after Anakin/Vader’s death in Return of the Jedi, which meant that the actor essentially had to play every version of Anakin — from the headstrong young Jedi to the brutal Sith lord to the reflective warrior who sacrificed himself to save Luke. Filoni knew he wanted to bring Anakin back for a conversation with Ahsoka, and it happens about halfway through the season, when Ahsoka has a brush with death and wakes up in the ethereal Force dimension known as the “World Between Worlds.”

Filoni says he didn’t want Ahsoka and Anakin’s reunion to “devolve into a Star Wars history lesson,” so rather than writing a Force ghost scene, he set their reunion in the World Between Worlds, allowing them to journey through their past together in flashback. (He says he was particularly inspired by the abstract, dreamlike sequences in Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha.) Before filming, Christensen binged episode of The Clone Wars, and both he and Filoni wanted to make sure that those flashback sequences remained focused on Ahsoka and her complicated relationship with Anakin.

“We discussed how this isn’t really a story about Anakin, but it’s important to see how Ahsoka sees Anakin,” Filoni explains. “This is her lived experience. [His] story is already told, and George’s saga is done. But this is important for her because you’re her mentor.”

Filoni adds that some of his favorite days were just watching Christensen on set with Ariana Greenblatt, who plays the young Ahsoka in flashback scenes. In some ways, he says, it felt like an episode of The Clone Wars come to life.

“It gave me pause just to stand there and look at him in the costume, standing next to Ariana,” he adds. “Because in my mind, it really is no different. No matter what the medium is, the image is always Anakin with Ahsoka — that older brother, younger sister dynamic.”

During that Clone Wars flashback sequence, there’s also a brief shot where Anakin’s silhouette flickers, and for a split second, he appears as Darth Vader, strutting across the battlefield with his red lightsaber in hand. Filoni wanted to keep that moment as just a moment — an acknowledgement of Anakin’s tragic arc and a warning for how hate can lead to destruction. On that day, he says, nearly every member of the cast and crew showed up, hoping to catch just a glimpse of that iconic black cape.  

“All Vader had to do was walk in a line,” Filoni says with a laugh. “But so many people came to set just to see somebody in a Darth Vader costume, walking in a straight line! You realize the power of these characters and the archetypes that George Lucas created, and that’s a real responsibility. You never want that to lessen. You have to keep that as the powerful thing it is.”

For more from Dave Filoni, listen to the full interview on EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast.

Related content:

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• That Ahsoka finale, explained

• Dave Filoni teases a potential Ahsoka season 2: 'Always in motion is the future'

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.