Actor Hayden Christensen was more surprised than anyone when he found out that he had the opportunity to play the role of Anakin Skywalker in George Lucas’ beloved galactic saga, ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’ and ‘Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith.’ Christensen wasn’t the top choice for the role, and now, in a recent conversation with Empire Magazine, he has revealed who was.

“I had heard that they’d met with Leonardo [DiCaprio] and a bunch of other actors,” Christensen said. He further stated that he had lost all hope in playing the character. He added, “That just confirmed my thought that the role would go to another actor. Through the entire auditioning process, I had told myself, from day one that I wasn’t going to get the part. It just wasn’t a possibility. And I think that probably helped me a lot, because it just freed me up in a lot of ways. And so it really came as a surprise to me when I got the part.”

Recalling his audition for the role at the age of 18, he admitted that it seemed “too big.” He even revealed that he had asked his agent if there was another role being cast because he had convinced himself that bagging the role of Anakin seemed somewhat unattainable.

Back in 2015, when the ‘Titanic’ actor was asked about the time George Lucas offered him to play the iconic Jedi character, DiCaprio revealed that he turned it down, because he “just didn’t feel ready to take that dive.”

Although fans have now warmed up to Hayden Christensen’s casting, the initial reviews for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader were not as favourable. Recalling the time he received backlash, similar to the prequel movies, Christensen stated, “The character was criticized, my performance was criticized, and that part sucked. But I also felt like I had some context that perhaps helped a little bit. When ‘Episode I’ came out, there was a lot of excitement that they were making a new ‘Star Wars,’ and it was going to be the back-story of Darth Vader. But I had friends that were upset that the character was starting off as this young kid. And I watched the film, and I loved it. It was everything I wanted and more. And I didn’t understand the disconnect between the movie that I saw, and the negativity in some of the reviews.”

Expressing the chance to play the character, he revealed that he “felt very lucky” to have the golden opportunity.