Rumors on SM about Hayden Christiansen signing a multi-picture deal with Lucasfilm and Disney and a Darth Vader film in the works.

Hayden Christensen has allegedly signed a multi-picture deal with Disney and Lucasfilm.

A ‘STAR WARS: DARTH VADER’ movie is rumored to be in early development. pic.twitter.com/wtheapJtKl

— Culture Cave (@CultureCave_) August 27, 2026

There are a few articles that can be found discussing the rumors and the potential story lines with one being a film built out of nightmares and flashbacks Vader experiences told in a Horror Theme.

Supposedly they will use AI to replicate the voice of JEJ.

Could be great if the execution is right but I also wouldn't be surprised if it was really bad. I'm not a big Hayden Christiansen fan.

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/3/4/osgood-perkins-wants-to-make-a-darth-vader-movie

Why have him in the suit with an AI voice? Seems like a waste.

This is likely conjuecture from Hayden's recent interview when he said both he and Ewan McGregor would love to revisit the Clone Wars era and he believes Portman and Sam Jackson would be up for it to. Having a movie split between him as Vader and him as Anakin, like they did in the 5th episode of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series a few years ago, would seem like the only thing that would make sense.

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/hayden-christensen-wants-live-action-star-wars-clone-wars-natalie-portman-ewan-mcgregor-3964345

I think we'd all love to see a movie version of Vader hunting down renegade Jedi after ROTS, a plot device that is revisited in The Force Unleashed game and more recently in the Darth Maul animated series. It's hard to imagine what story they could cook up for the Clone Wars era of the movie that hasn't been told by Episodes 2 and 3 of the prequels or the many seasons of Clone Wars.

But if they did, they could really expand out and use characters like young Ahsoka, even the Bad Batch, and Palpatine. Count Dooku would be the only person completely off the table unless they CGI him.

hunter2012 said:

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I've said it several times in other Star Wars threads. They need to adapt the book ,"Lords of the Sith" It's basically the emperor and Vader versus a coup and an entirely hostile planet.

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I haven't read many Star Wars books, but this one was fantastic.

Star Wars is headed to irrelevance.

I'm Gen X and yeah I love some Luke and Han and Vader, but if they keep playing in this little sandbox contained within the timeframe of the original trilogy and the prequels, they aren't making new fans.

It's a whole galaxy full of cool spaceships, laser guns, and space wizards. Additionally Disney has access to all the creative talent in the world. Let the past die, and make everything in the timeline after the sequels.

It could be cool to allow a matured Hayden Christiansen some time in the spotlight. The angsty teen padawan in the sequels was pretty annoying but I don't feel that was totally his fault.

On the other hand, Disney has completely failed at tying in these between-the-major-arc stories to the larger Star Wars cosmology.

It's really a mess, but Vader is larger than life and can carry a billion on the title alone. But who knows if the story will be good enough to work out.

Vader has to be pretty sympathetic in whatever movies are made since rooting for the bad guy to do bad things is never a successful formula.

The problem is, he is not a good actor.

My idea would be to have it split fairly evenly between before Episode 2 leading up to Episode 3 and after the Rise of the Empire.

Have it open with him as Vader killing some Jedi fugitive in a wild jungle somewhere in a really intense, unique, Force-powered battle.

When he gets done, he checks in with the Inquisitors or maybe Palpy, and gets 2 more leads.

Make one be a Jedi Master who we didn't see die in ROTS. Shaak Ti would be a cool one - she dies in the deleted scenes and is featured in "The Force Unleashed" or Oppo Rancisis - the snake guy with the beard - or just make up some other powerful old alien.

Make the other a former Padawan like Anakin who was a rival for him. Another guy, a real human actor, who while not as talented as Anakin in raw power, was more polished or more of a kiss-ass or whatever. Maybe even somehow get that guy assigned to protect Amidala for some sort of diplomatic baloney while Anakin is first involved in the Clone Wars or when he's recovering from Dooku fileting his arm off. Let that guy always be around and always Mr. Chivalrous with Padme just to ramp up Anakin's bull-headed jealousy.

The plot then shows the Master constantly bagging on Anakin in his training, ala Mace Windu, and Vader being relentless in hunting him down and killing him.

For the rival, at some late point in the movie, it shows that he saved Anakin or he saved Padme or he uncovered their secret and kept it anyways, so that when Vader finally finds him, it's revealed that they were real friends before the Purge, making this the first time Vader has to kill someone he truly cared about.
Let the other former Padawan recognize him through the Force like Ahsoka does in Rebels and say something like, "She would have hated what you've become." - then Vader guts him.

bonfarr said:

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PatAg said:

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The problem is, he is not a good actor.

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He comes across as a complete wimp. When he tries to pull off a dark, brooding evil persona it doesn't work.

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I can think of a ton of actors that would just kill in that roll. I agree, Hayden didn't have the right presence for it.

They already did a Darth Vader film. In fact they did six- they were called Star Wars 1-6.

After decades of thinking Star Wars was about Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewy, we all convinced ourselves that the orginal trilogy, and then the prequel trilogy were actually about the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker.

So NOW were getting a Darth Vader movie? What's it gonna be about? Darth hanging out in his apartment, redoing the Death Star reflecting pool, sending texts and posting AI pics on X?

Philo B 93 said:

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They already did a Darth Vader film. In fact they did six- they were called Star Wars 1-6.

After decades of thinking Star Wars was about Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewy, we all convinced ourselves that the orginal trilogy, and then the prequel trilogy were actually about the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker.

So NOW were getting a Darth Vader movie? What's it gonna be about? Darth hanging out in his apartment, redoing the Death Star reflecting pool, sending texts and posting AI pics on X?

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People have been talking about seeing a Darth Vader solo film (pun intended) where he hunts down renegade Jedi since Return of the Jedi came out.

They've done it some in Rebels, in a couple of video games, and some brilliant comics.

I think for the Star Wars brand's sake, they need to stop trying to give us more of the Skywalker's and Palpatine's story and focus on spinoffs and new stories. The most critically successful live action media the Star Wars brand has put out since the end of Return of the Jedi have been Rogue One, the first two seasons on The Mandalorian, and Andor.

I'd prefer they focus on giving us new stories with new characters. Vader is great in small doses. I think he only got 12 minutes of screen time in A New Hope and 14 minutes in Empire Strikes Back. Vader as a concept is intriguing, but he's an incredibly mundane character to base an entire movie around as the central focus.

Robert Pattinson would be better

FriendlyAg said:

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Robert Pattinson would be better

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Exactly what I thought as well

bonfarr said:

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Supposedly they will use AI to replicate the voice of JEJ.

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This was my immediate fear upon reading the thread title.

torrid said:

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bonfarr said:

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Supposedly they will use AI to replicate the voice of JEJ.

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This was my immediate fear upon reading the thread title.

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They already did this for the Kenobi series and barely anyone noticed.

https://www.engadget.com/james-earl-jones-retires-darth-vader-ai-201559553.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/darth-vaders-voice-emanated-from-war-torn-ukraine