Poor Jake Lloyd. In the 1990s George Lucas was searching for a young actor for a pivotal role in the first instalment of his Star Wars prequels. After a long audition process, he chose Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker, with his young face promptly plastered over a dizzying amount of merchandise. Then The Phantom Menace was released and, well, Lloyd’s performance was not exactly well-received.
Lloyd later revealed playing Anakin resulted in him being bullied at school and harassed by the press, ultimately causing him to quit acting altogether. Since then he’s suffered from severe mental health problems and in 2016 spent ten months in jail after a high-speed police chase.
Now, finally, his Anakin performance is getting some fan love, with his delivery of “Will I ever see you again?” to his mother Shmi described in truly glowing terms:
We wouldn’t go quite this hyperbolic, but it’s probably the single best line read Lloyd gives in the whole movie. But only someone truly cruel would target Lloyd for serious criticism for The Phantom Menace. After all, he was just nine years old at the time, and the fact he’d already delivered better performances in Jingle All the Way and Apollo 13 indicates that the fault lies with Lucas’ direction.
The Disney Star Wars era has seen many prequel trilogy stars receive fan rehabilitation, as proven by the rapturous return of Jar Jar Binks star Ahmed Best in the third season of The Mandalorian. But we suspect the last thing Jake Lloyd needs or wants is a return to Star Wars, so we just wish him well in whatever he’s doing these days.
