Summary
In an exclusive interview withScreen Rant,AhsokaVFX Supervisor Richard Bluff explained how Luke Skywalker’s cameo inThe Mandalorianshaped Hayden Christensen’sStar Warsreturn.Ahsokaabsolutely thrilled audiences by bringing Christensen back as Anakin Skywalker, reuniting one of the most beloved duos inStar Warsmovies and TV shows: Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. In fact, both Ahsoka and Anakin rank highly amongStar Wars’best characters, and Christensen’s prequel trilogy performance in particular has become beloved in the franchise. Yet, bringing these two actors together was no easy feat.
Rather, Hayden Christensen’s return as Anakin Skywalker inAhsokarequired de-aging similar to Luke Skywalker’s inThe Mandalorian. In fact, in an exclusive interview withScreen Rant,AhsokaVFX Supervisor Richard Bluff explained that Luke’s return directly affected how the team approached Christensen’s de-aging:
“I think what we learned is the impact doing too much can have. When we were working on Luke Skywalker, we obviously were able to do a range of aging, and for that particular character, there was a significant amount of work that we did. And it was less de-aging. It was more face-swapping, because Mark Hamill, in the vast majority of the scenes, was playing off-camera and coaching our double on set, because the posture of the double needed to be someone of that same age. So, that was a different solve. But through all of that exploration and all the work that we did—and, though I wasn’t involved, the work that was done on Obi-Wan—you start to hear what audiences feel takes them out of the story. What is subtle, what’s too much, and what’s not enough.
At the very beginning of Ahsoka, it was clear that what we needed to do was to make sure that all the heads of department were working together. [They] did a really wonderful job with the World Between Worlds, testing how much light was enough light and how much light was complimentary to both of the actors on set. Everybody’s seen people put flashlights underneath their chin and make creepy faces, right? That’s effectively what the lighting was in the World Between Worlds. But [they] did some really smart early dev moving those light sources away from the platforms, away from where they appeared in the final image, to make sure that it was complimentary to both performances and made a pretty picture. Once we got those dailies back, there was very little we all felt we needed to do to Anakin.”
Clearly, considerable work and thought went into bringing Anakin Skywalker back to live-action, and it certainly paid off; Christensen’s return was loudly celebrated in the franchise.
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Anakin Skywalker’s World Between Worlds Return Was So Much More Effective
As Bluff mentioned in his interview, Christensen’s de-aging inAhsokawas influenced not only by Luke Skywalker’s appearance inThe Mandalorianseason 3 endingbut also by Anakin’s earlier live-action return inObi-Wan Kenobi. In both cases, the de-aging didn’t quite work as well as it did inAhsoka. The process forThe Mandalorianwas also quite a bit more complicated, as Bluff highlighted, because it involved another actor, which in turn required additional technology. However,Anakin’sObi-Wan Kenobiappearance is also a great point of comparison and reveals how much progress was made in such a short time.
InObi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin appeared in a scene dated sometime aroundStar Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, which was indicated by his Padawan braid. While this realistically was only a few years away from the age he was meant to be in the World Between Worlds scenes, something about his hair being in the Padawan style skewed significantly younger. Perhaps for that reason, it was a bit more difficult to embrace this de-aging.
However, inAhsoka, Christensen truly looked very similar to Anakin inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and, unlike Luke inThe MandalorianandThe Book of Boba Fett, he did not appear stiff or off in any way. In fact, with Luke, there was at times a sense of uncanny valley, but this was not so with Anakin inAhsoka. Clearly,the extensive thought that was put into the de-aging approach for Anakin paid off.
Now, this process may get an additional update, asAhsokaseason 2 is confirmed to be coming. AlthoughStar Warshas yet to announce whether Christensen will be reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker yet again, it seems likely, as he appeared as a Force ghost at the very end ofAhsokaseason 1. This is a thrilling possibility, both because it’s wonderful to see Ahsoka and Anakin sharing the screen again and because it’s clear thatStar Warshas worked hard to make Hayden Christensen’sAhsokaappearance so flawless.
Ahsoka
Cast
Ahsoka follows the journey of former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy. Released in 2023, this series takes place within the Star Wars universe and features Ahsoka navigating through a complex political and cosmic landscape.
