Anakin Skywalker Almost Appeared In ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ — Is Darth Vader Coming?

Currently, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is tearing up the box office and obliterating every single record that has ever been put in place. By now, many also know that there are a lot of hidden things in the film and Easter Eggs galore for you to find. As time goes on, more and more secrets are revealed, but the strangest may be that Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader was almost in the movie. It’s also been unveiled as to how that was to happen.

Be warned that there are spoilers in this article for The Force Awakens. If you haven’t seen the latest Star Wars film and don’t want to know, stop reading now.

It’s now known that Obi-Wan Kenobi did kind of make it into The Force Awakens as did a number of other big names in the Star Wars franchise. Anakin Skywalker was not one of them, but he almost made it in, and some newly released concept art actually shows how it was going to happen.

Collider is reporting that believe it or not, Luke Skywalker’s father’s ghost was almost included in The Force Awakens.

According to Making Star Wars, the newly released book The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens shows concept art that details how it was to happen. Anakin’s possible ghost is pictured, and it shows how he almost made it into the film.

Not only is this something that almost happened, but it still could happen. There have been many rumors about Luke’s father appearing in The Force Awakens, but it never took place. Now, it’s not out of the question that the Force Ghost of Anakin Skywalker could appear in Episode VIII when it hits theaters in 2017.

Rumors have been going around for months that the stunt team who worked on The Force Awakens has indeed been training Hayden Christensen. For those not aware, Christensen portrayed the older Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels.

The image above does show a true ghost form of Anakin, but his actual appearance would have been rather different.

How Hayden Christensen’s Anakin was going to return in The Force Awakens https://t.co/M0UXtAy9Lb #StarWars pic.twitter.com/6xLQdCtzeF

— Indy Film (@TheIndyFilm) December 27, 2015

Some may wonder why the two-faced look of Anakin Skywalker is going on, but there’s a very good reason for it. Artist Iain McCaig spoke with ScreenCrush and explained why he looks that way.

“When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow. That inspired me to propose, for the first time, that Anakin’s ghost could come back … If we see Anakin Skywalker, because he does flow back and forth between Darth Vader and Anakin, let’s see him as a character with a dark and light side. The reason Luke is this whole new entity is because he was the first to acknowledge his own dark side — that it was not separate from him.”

Moving forward, it’s not totally clear just how Anakin Skywalker would have fit into the storyline of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One thought is that he could have shown up in the dreams or mind of Kyle Ren, who possessed the mangled mask of Darth Vader.

At one point, Ren even asks his grandfather to show him the power of the darkness once “again.” This makes everyone believe the Kylo Ren has spoken to Darth Vader in the past, and after fully turning to the Dark Side, he could do it again.

That being said, Darth Vader could end up returning to the Star Wars franchise in some form or another since he was hinted at in The Force Awakens, and now it’s proven he was given a second thought. The rumor that Hayden Christiansen is in training adds more credibility to the fact that the true dark one may appear in Episode VIII or Episode IX.

[Image via LucasFilm]