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Is This Prequel Actor Appearing In Star Wars: Episode VIII? [Spoilers]

It really should go without saying that there are potential spoilers in this article. You have been warned! 

One of the best decisions that was made in regards to Star Wars: The Force Awakens was to cast Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, and Harrison Ford in it. Placing the new trilogy 30 years after Return of the Jedi meant that we get to see some familiar faces in a new film.

But the prequel trilogy wrapped up only in 2005, which sees some of those actors still in their prime. I’ve been of the opinion that they could make a standalone film based on either Mace Windu or Obi-Wan Kenobi easily, despite the former’s apparent death.

Making Star Wars, however, reports that another actor from the prequels will be back for Star Wars: Episode VIII, and it’s not Samuel L. Jackson or Ewan McGregor but rather Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christensen. Here’s what their sources say:

A team in the U.K. are soon heading to the U.S. to begin training Hayden Christensen for a Star Wars: Episode VIII appearance of some sort.

I’m giving this rumor a low chance at being true, and taking it with a big grain of salt, but the question has to be asked: Could it even be possible? The obvious possibility is a flashback to Anakin during the Clone Wars, but another intriguing possibility is that all these years, Luke Skywalker has been visited by the ghost of Anakin ever since the end of Return of the Jedi.

A far crazier theory, off the top of my head, is that Anakin is being somehow resurrected. We know that clones are possible, as the Clone Troopers are all based on Jango Fett, and we don’t know if Force Ghosts eventually dissipate, or go off elsewhere. So Anakin’s soul could inhabit a clone body, much in the same way that Palpatine did during the Dark Empire trilogy. 

Christensen returning to Star Wars would make some amount of sense as Darth Vader seems to be part of the story of The Force Awakens. But having said all that, I still think it’s highly unlikely.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will premiere in theaters December 18, 2015.