Star Wars fans are expressing their love for animated Anakin Skywalker from The Clone Wars over live-action Anakin Skywalker from the movies.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars ran for seven seasons on three different networks, and presented a post-sand/pre-Sith Anakin, which seems to be the sweet spot of the character’s development—at least according to posters in the Star Wars subreddit.
Nahim33 began the love-fest by writing, “I know they are the same character, but am I the only one who prefers Clone Wars Anakin over movie version Anakin?”
No, they aren’t.
In addition to citing Clone Wars Anakin’s likability, Redditors have mentioned his complexity. “He’s just much more likeable and complex imo,” Nahim33 continued. “He isn’t creepy or anything and he feels more like Obi-Wan described him in A New Hope, the best star pilot in the galaxy, a great warrior, and a good friend.” Doa-Diyer80 stated that “he’s not as whiny and acts a little more mature in the Clone Wars” but conceded that “he’s rash and too emotional in both [the show and the films].”
Another cited reason for his supremacy is time. The Clone Wars gave animated Anakin seven seasons of development; live-action Anakin got only two movies (excluding when he’s a child).
“I mean ‘film’ Anakin really had 2 movies of development, I’m not really counting episode 1 because he was a boy. Clone Wars Anakin had 7 seasons. There was a lot more screen time to flesh out his character and personality.”
u/castlight98
Perhaps surprisingly, no Redditors have blamed Hayden Christensen for their preference of the other Anakin, who’s voiced by Matt Lanter. In fact, multiple users penned whole paragraphs defending Christensen and blaming the films’ writers instead.
Whether you like Clone Wars Anakin, live-action Anakin, or both, all it takes is a Disney Plus subscription to revisit the entire Star Wars back catalogue and firm up an opinion.
