Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen has revealed the strangest fan encounter he’s ever had.
Speaking on stage at L.A. Comic Con, as reported by The Nerd Wire, the Star Wars veteran said that years ago, a burglar recognized him during a robbery at his home, apologized, then gave his stuff back.
Christensen was upstairs when he heard the door open, and when he found the burglar, he was holding his belongings. “I’m like, is this a delivery guy?” Christensen was quoted as saying. “And I look and I’m like, this is all my stuff.”
Remarkably, Christensen then offered to buy the man who broke into his house a train ticket home. No, a Jedi mind trick hadn’t caused the burglar to have a surprise change of heart. He just happened to be a fan who decided on a quick U-turn.
Christensen said that the apologetic burglar was struggling for money and was trying to buy a ticket home. And in an act of kindness that Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been proud of, Christensen gave the burglar some clothes and shoes to help him in job interviews, then offered to drive him to the train station himself and buy his ticket home the next day.
The burglar failed to show up, however. Perhaps he feared a turn to the Dark side of the Force if he returned to the scene of the crime.
The 45-year-old Canadian first played Anakin Skywalker in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. He went on to reprise his role in 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and, via vocal cameo, 2019’s saga-ending Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He’s since appeared in two Star Wars TV shows: 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and 2023’s Star Wars: Ahsoka.
At Star Wars Celebration last year, Lucasfilm confirmed that Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker in Season 2 of Ahsoka. In an interview with IGN, he told us that he felt even more connected to Anakin now “because I’ve had more time to think about him and sort of try to understand him.”
“It’s a very unique thing coming back to a role after all of these years and an interesting sort of exercise in the craft of acting, having to sort of account for that passage of time,” he continued. “But I feel very fortunate that I have the opportunity to do it.”
Ahsoka Season 2 hits Disney+ on January 20, 2027. Season 2 arrives three-and-a-half years after Ahsoka’s first episodes aired back in August 2023. Rosario Dawson reprises her title role, with Season 2 continuing the story of the infamous Jedi and her friends as they counter an invasion by the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn and investigate a mysterious neighbouring galaxy.
Season 2 will also see the return of Hayden Christensen in further scenes as Anakin Skywalker, following his Season 1 guest appearance via Star Wars’ extradimensional plane, The World Between Worlds. With more Anakin, and more of The World Between Worlds, fans are wondering how Ahsoka might introduce new kinds of storytelling opportunities in future for the franchise.
Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images for Disney.
