Hayden Christensen Loved Anakin Skywalker's Most Disturbing Star Wars Scene
Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) does a lot of terrible things throughout the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. In "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones," he slaughters an entire camp of Tusken Raiders and voices his desire to be a galactic dictator, and in "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith," he aids in the overthrow of the Galactic Republic and becomes a Sith Lord. Perhaps most infamously, Anakin kills a group of Jedi younglings — a disturbing scene Christensen surprisingly admires to this day.
Speaking to Empire, Christensen expressed his appreciation for that dark moment, despite its appalling nature. "There was a lot of talk about us doing that scene, and I love that [director George Lucas] did it. It was a bold move. And it's shocking," he told the publication. Continuing, he added that when he meets younger fans, somehow the scene seems to disappear from their minds entirely. "Kids seem to forget about that scene when they meet me! There's not any fear or intimidation. They're just excited to meet Anakin."
Sure, it may be a difficult moment to watch in a film full of difficult-to-watch moments, but there's no denying that Anakin's murder of the younglings has become a key part of the "Star Wars" franchise.
The younglings scene is now an essential part of Star Wars
Over the years, the brief yet disturbing younglings scene from "Revenge of the Sith" has taken on a life of its own. The social media age has turned it into a meme, and many "Star Wars" fans have even taken to calling the Skywalker family lightsaber the "Youngling Slayer 9000." Not to mention, the scene has also been referenced in other pieces of "Star Wars" media. Most notably, it takes center stage through flashbacks on the Disney+ limited series "Obi-Wan Kenobi," where fans learn of a previously unseen ramification of Anakin's dark deed.
Sporadically throughout the series, "Obi-Wan Kenobi" takes viewers back to the execution of Order 66 and Anakin's raid of the Jedi Temple. In doing so, it revisits his killing of the younglings, among them being a young Reva Sevander (Moses Ingram). She witnesses the newly-dubbed Darth Vader's killing of her friends, which leads her to hatch a plan for revenge. As an adult, she becomes an Imperial Inquisitor and sets her sights on Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). She feels killing him can put her on Vader's radar, thus affording her the chance to get close to and eventually kill him. Ultimately, though, she's unsuccessful on both fronts.
For better or worse, Anakin's murder of the Jedi younglings has become the stuff of "Star Wars" legend. All these years later, it remains as talked about as ever and has only become more relevant to the franchise's story.