Hayden Christensen made a triumphant return to the role of Darth Vader in the Disney+ event series Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he has spoken to E! News about Vivien Lyra Blair’s performance as the young Princess Leia stating what a great job she did.
“I was just thrilled at seeing young Leia in this story and how’s she’s represented,” the actor said on the latest episode of E! News’ digital series While You Were Streaming. “I think they really imbued the character with all the qualities that make that character great. And young Vivien has done such a great job of bringing her to life.”
The character’s original actress—who died in 2016—wasn’t the only Star Wars woman Hayden saw in Vivien’s performance. He told E! News that “part of the fun” of watching young Leia was “getting those little glimpses of Padme [Natalie Portman], which I do get.”
Not only did the series mark the first time fans got a look at the early days of Leia and Luke Skywalker (played in the series by Grant Feely), but it also marked Hayden and Ewan McGregor’s return to the franchise, 17 years after Revenge of the Sith.
Suiting up as Darth Vader again came with some big challenges, including not overheating in the suit. “It’s a very hot costume and you sweat profusely all day long,” said Hayden. “You end up losing a lot of weight just because you’re sweating so much.”
The trick to staying cool? “They made this undergarment that had tubes of cooling liquid,” he shared. “When you weren’t filming, you’d get plugged into this device that would re-circulate the cooling liquid and it would cool your body down, which definitely, definitely helped.”
