Disney has been butting heads with a lot of people the past couple weeks, the latest group of people feeling the wrath of the House of Mouse is Star Wars fans attending the weekend of FanX in Salt Lake City, Utah. Fans attending a panel expecting to see their favorite Sith duo, Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Hayden Christenson (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader) but where disappointed to hear that an hour and a half before the panel was to take place Disney threatened the convention with legal action if the panel was to continue, unfortunately, fans didn’t know until the last moment.
This, of course, sparked a litany of conspiracy theories with people thinking that Hayden Christenson is going to be reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker. If the Last Jedi has taught us anything is that Star Wars fans love their theories and how they act if those theories aren’t proven right. The thing is, why are these two doing the convention circuit for no apparent reason? With this sudden move, Disney didn’t do a very good job at silencing these theories and could have possibly just spoiled their own huge movie by trying not to spoil it!
And Disney just cancelled their panel at FanX. Like… how else are we supposed to read that, @starwars? 🧐🤔 https://t.co/y7ZrbLjC7N
— future-Dr. Hopepunk 🦋🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@RevHopepunk) September 7, 2019
The star wars spotlight panel at #fanx was cancelled. The rumor is that Disney threatened litigation if @fanxsaltlake allowed Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid to speak for fear of leaks. These rumors have yet to be addressed by either organization.
— Wood (@WoodyWood_Chuck) September 7, 2019
We already have confirmation that Ian McDiarmid is reprising his role as the longtime antagonist, the evil Emperor Palpatine. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Darth Vader himself could be coming back in some way, especially since it’s already been established that Anakin has the rare ability to be a “Force Ghost.” Whether the rumors are true or not, it is very interesting that Disney would pull this kind of move at the last minute when they should be promoting The Rise of Skywalker at every opportunity.
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker is set to hit theatres on December 20th of this year.
What do you think? is Christenson making his way to the new Star Wars series? Or is Disney just flexing their muscles? Sound off in the comments below!