Obi-Wan Kenobi: Hayden Christensen says he had a Darth Vader movement specialist

As exciting as it is that Ewan McGregor has returned as Obi-Wan Kenobi, it’s perhaps even more exciting that the upcoming series will also find Hayden Christensen reprising the role of Darth Vader. It’s been seventeen years since Hayden Christensen last played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith, and suiting up as the Dark Lord of the Sith once again took some work.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Hayden Christensen said that he spent “a lot of time” working on how to move and walk in the Darth Vader armour. To help him in the endeavour, the actor said that they had a Vader movement specialist on set. How does one get that job?

We had this woman [choreographer Joann Jansen] who was like a Vader movement specialist. And she made sure that we were always in the right ballpark… Certainly, we wanted to make sure that we were staying true to how Vader moves and how we perceive him, and wanting to keep all that relatively consistent.

Hayden Christensen recalled the first time he wore Darth Vader’s armour in Revenge of the Sith. “I remember when we were doing Episode III and I put on the suit for the first time, I was really having a tough time moving around in it, and it was all extremely rigid,” Christensen said. “And I said that to George [Lucas], and he said, ‘It’s okay. This is your first time in this suit. So it should feel very mechanical and maybe not very natural.’ Now, this is 10 years after that. So he’s had a lot of time to acclimate. But again, it’s a full-on challenge, just trying to get to set in that suit.“

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Revenge of the Sith where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The first two episodes of the series will debut on Disney+ on May 27th.