Hayden Christensen has revealed he jumped at the chance to return as Darth Vader in two Disney+ Star Wars titles.

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Christensen originally starred as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in two of the Star Wars prequels – 2002’s Attack Of The Clones and 2005’s Revenge Of The Sith, with the films and Christensen himself receiving harsh criticism from fans at the time.

Speaking about the backlash in a new interview with the Guardian, Christensen said: “I guess the impression that I got from (director) George Lucas was that if they don’t like them, then they don’t ‘get’ it – and that was good enough for me.”

It’s been confirmed that Christensen will be reprising his role in both the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series as well as appearing in Ahshoka.

“It just seemed like a really exciting opportunity,” he said. “It was a no-brainer. In a heartbeat. When I got the call, I was instantly elated, I was just so excited to get to come back after all these years.” Speaking about further backlash, Christensen said: “I mean, it’s all on the table, but you know, that doesn’t get factored into these types of decisions for me.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi airs May 27 and is set ten years after the events of Revenge Of The Sith. The show will follow Jedi Master Obi-Wan’s “greatest defeat as he witnesses the the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader,” according to Disney.

This Friday, experience the two-episode premiere of @ObiWanKenobi, streaming only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/043wIcujs4

— Obi-Wan Kenobi (@obiwankenobi) May 23, 2022

Elsewhere in the interview, Christensen spoke about how the fame Star Wars brought him was “a lot to adjust to. Usually people have a more gradual ascent into that world and mine was very abrupt. But I was able to distance or detach from that experience because I knew it was about this thing that I was now a part of. I didn’t really think of it as being something that was mine.”

“I never really connected with that identity,” he added about being seen as a teen heart-throb. “I always wanted to be regarded as a serious actor. I guess I found that to also be a little overwhelming. But my focus has always been the work and everything else is kind of peripheral for me.”

A series of first-look images from Obi-Wan Kenobi were released earlier this year, at which point McGregor said: “We find Obi-Wan at the beginning of our story rather broken, and faithless, and beaten, somewhat given up.”

It’s also been said that the original script for the show was revamped to make a more “uplifting” and “hopeful” story.