Rumorville: Hayden Christensen has a cameo in The Rise of Skywalker?

As the release of The Rise of Skywalker gets nearer and nearer, Star Wars fans are preparing to say farewell to the Skywalker Saga — along with all the characters they’ve come to know and love over the past eight films. And many of those characters will be making appearances in the final installment. The film will mark Carrie Fisher’s final performance as Princess Leia, have Luke showing up as a Force Ghost, and even feature the return of the once-thought-dead Emperor Palpatine. And as if that isn’t enough cameos, there are now rumors that we could see Hayden Christensen return as Anakin Skywalker.

These rumors come from Robert Friedman over at Showbiz411, who reports that the character will return as a Force Ghost — although the former entertainment journalist doesn’t specify the source of the information. In his post, Friedman writes:

"The word is he will appear as a Force ghost, just as Yoda returned in The Last Jedi. Christensen is said to have filmed his scenes last year."

And it does make sense that we’d see Anakin one last time. After all, he is the impetus behind Kylo Ren’s turn to the Dark Side. He’s also the catalyst for much of what happens throughout the saga, so getting further closure when it comes to the man behind Darth Vader’s mask is something many fans would probably appreciate.

It’s unclear what capacity Anakin would reappear in. Will he be a force of evil, there to goad Kylo or Rey into acting on their temptations? Or will we see an Anakin who has realized the error of his ways after his final confrontation with the Emperor and Luke in Return of the Jedi? If Kylo does actually get a redemption arc in the film, it’s possible it will be the latter. Perhaps he’ll convince his grandson to forego following in his footsteps and defy Palpatine.

This news comes after Christensen’s recent visit to Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Could the actor have been there celebrating his upcoming appearance in Episode IX?

In his post, Friedman also speculates that we’ll see Harrison Ford make one final cameo in the film — though given Ford’s enthusiasm at ending Han Solo’s story during The Force Awakens, that seems less likely than Anakin’s return, which isn’t guaranteed in the first place.

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