Star Wars Viewers Praise 'Greatest' Prequel Casting

Star Wars fans have praised the prequel films for its “perfect” casting, and it feels pretty hard to argue with that.

The three films that comprise the Star Wars prequel trilogy were quite commonly criticised for their quality back when they were first released, but they’ve seen a bit more of a generous re-evaluation in recent years.

Sure, the films have major pacing issues, awkwardly written dialogue, and Jar Jar Binks is cringe. But the kids who grew up with those films are now in their 30s, so notalgia is naturally going to play a part when finding a common soft spot for them.

And it does mean that appreciation for aspects of these films is raised nearly every day within Star Wars communities, as is the case with a recent thread on the Star Wars Reddit page.

A video titled “Hayden's lightsaber choreography is breathtaking,” demonstrates the dedication that actor Hayden Christensen had towards his role as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

The video shows some of the behind-the-scenes and on-set training Christensen did to prepare for the lightsaber duels across the two films, along with his on-screen Jedi master, Ewan McGregor.

“Hayden was doing 4 hour workouts and 4 hour lightsaber training per day,” wrote one fan in the thread. “That's why he was so shredded in Revenge Of The Sith.”

“To this day no one else can make lightsaber fights look better than him. Ewan is a close second,” another fan added underneath.

“They really scored on Ewan and Hayden to play existing characters. Not only acting, looks, and character wise, but also athletically,” a third comment reads. “One of the greatest casting to play younger version IMO.”

Star Wars fans consider the chemistry between Christensen and McGregor to be one of the stronger parts of the prequel films, particularly during the lightsaber fight sequences.

As one comment puts it: “Never forget: Ewan and Hayden had to limit how fast they went for the final Mustafar battle because of not only how well they memorized the choreography but just how good they were with lightsaber fighting overall by ROTS, practicing with each other constantly.”

Christensen played Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars films between 2002 and 2005. He would return to play the character, or his subsequent Dark Side persona Darth Vader, in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, as well as having voice cameos in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.