Hayden Christensen has revealed that he thought he would lose out his role in the Star Wars franchise to Leonardo DiCaprio – see what he had to say below.

Christensen, who was ultimately cast as Anakin Skywalker (and Darth Vader), recently spoke to Empire Magazine about the character, and creator George Lucas’ filmmaking process. Before Christensen was cast as the iconic character, it was revealed that Lucas was talking to several big stars for the role.

One such name was Leonardo DiCaprio. Lucas speaking to DiCaprio led Christensen to believe that he had had no shot at landing the role of Anakin. Christensen said to Empire: “I had heard that they’d met with Leonardo and a bunch of other actors. That just confirmed my thought that the role would go to another actor.”

He continued: “Through the entire auditioning process I had told myself, from day one, that I wasn’t going to get the part. It just wasn’t a possibility. And I think that probably helped me a lot, because it just freed me up in a lot of ways. And so it really came as a surprise to me when I got the part.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Christensen spoke with Empire about his return to the Star Wars franchise, once again playing Skywalker/Vader in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka series.

He reflected on the less-than-favourable reviews he received from fans for the prequel films, which fans have since come around to. “The character was criticized, my performance was criticized, and that part sucked. But I also felt like I had some context that perhaps helped a little bit. When Episode I came out, there was a lot of excitement that they were making a new Star Wars, and it was going to be the backstory of Darth Vader.

“But I had friends that were upset that the character was starting off as this young kid. And I watched the film, and I loved it. It was everything I wanted and more. And I didn’t understand the disconnect between the movie that I saw, and the negativity in some of the reviews.”

2023’s Ahsoka TV series scored a three-star review, with Paul Bradshaw writing for NME: “This isn’t the grounded grit of Andor and it isn’t the stripped-back sweep of The Mandalorian nor the multiplex ambition of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Ahoska has more than enough of its own charm and electricity to be something greater than filler.”