Anakin Skywalker Was Originally Going To Show Up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Image: Lucasfilm

J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens mostly ignored George Lucas' prequel trilogy. The only notable nod to those films was Ewan McGregor's voicework as Obi-Wan Kenobi during Rey's Force vision. (saying, "Rey…these are your first steps"). But the original plan was for Obi-Wan's apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, to also make an appearance.

According to the Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens book, Anakin would have appeared as a Force ghost in the movie. It's unclear whether Anakin would have shown himself as Darth Vader to Kylo Ren, or as Anakin Skywalker to Luke or Rey.

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.

Check out the concept art of what Anakin's Force ghost may have looked like in the film:

Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm

As you can see, there are various depictions of Anakin. One looks more of a traditional Anakin, not unlike the Force ghost that was added to Return of the Jedi. Another version looks more like half-Vader/half-Anakin.

It seems that it was cut from the film, because it gave too much information for one film. If Anakin appeared to Rey, it might have revealed that she's a Skywalker (which we still have no idea even though a recent hint might have confirmed his true identity)

There's still a possibility that Hayden Chirstensen could reprise his role as Anakin for Star Wars: Episode VIII. And there's already a suprising hint about the sequel that you can read here.