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Hayden Christensen Just Helped His 5-Year-Old Daughter Build a Lightsaber at Disneyland

Anakin Skywalker himself has passed on a lightsaber to a new generation: His own daughter!

by Ryan Britt
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Actor Hayden Christensen shares a moment with his daughter, on her birthday, after building a custom lightsaber in Savi’s Workshop at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 29, 2019. (Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort)

While rumors are flying that actor Hayden Christensen could return to the Star Wars saga as the ghost of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker next month, the man who gave us angsty-teen Darth Vader has just conquered the Force in another way. Turns out, in addition to being a good-natured, funny dude, Hayden Christensen is also a great dad. Recently, he took his 5-year-old-daughter to Disneyland for the first time, and yeah, he helped her build a lightsaber.

On Wednesday, Entertainment Weekly reported that Christensen took a 5-year-old Briar Rose to Disneyland for a birthday surprise. And though his girl is obviously named for the alter-ego of Sleeping Beauty, the famous Star Wars actor took his daughter to Galaxy’s Edge where the two built a lightsaber together.

Disneyland Resort via smjurach/Reddit

Basically, Hayden is just like all the other dads out there who love Star Wars, the only difference being he was in Star Wars. And though, it was fashionable for a time to hate-on his performance as Anakin, I’d argue that most dads of a certain age (I.E. my age and Hayden’s age) probably came of age while the prequels were hitting theaters. On some level, Hayden Christensen was the face of Star Wars for young men in the early 2000s, which means his journey to actual fatherhood will make more than one dad out there just a little misty.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not crying seeing Hayden pass a lightsaber to his real daughter. It’s just some Tatooine sand in my eyes. And you know, I. Hate. Sand.

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