Star Wars: The Clone Wars Landed Its Lead Thanks To A Suggestion From Dave Filoni
I think /Film's Jacob Hall put it best in our list of the greatest "Star Wars" movie moments when he described George Lucas' prequel trilogy as "a collection of brilliant ideas, filmed in the most baffling, alien way possible." That extends to Anakin Skywalker's journey from a wide-eyed wunderkind enslaved on Tatooine with his mother to a genocidal tyrant who murders kids and owes fealty to a cackling dictator over the course of three movies. As conceptually logical and narratively sound as the rise of Darth Vader is on paper, it's perplexing enough in motion to merit me writing an article explaining Anakin's fall to the dark side for all those folks who watched the films and yet still came away scratching their heads.
In contrast, you get a far more satisfying depiction of Anakin and his transformation in "The Clone Wars," the animated show following Anakin (Matt Lanter) as he fights in the titular conflict alongside his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) and Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein). (Yes, yes, the dweeb who's always prattling on about "Star Wars" animation prefers "Clone Wars" to the prequels. Who would've thunk it?) This is also why Ahsoka confronting and learning the truth about Vader in animated form with the "Star Wars Rebels" two-part season 2 finale "Twilight of the Apprentice" just hits emotionally harder than Vader's live-action rematch with Obi-Wan in the live-action "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series.
Lanter is similarly proficient when it comes to capturing the different facets of Anakin's personality with his voice work, merging the diplomatic manner you'd expect from a fully-trained Jedi with the maverick attitude the character would become legendary for. The actor, for his part, was humble when talking about this to Star Wars Insider in 2021, giving the credit for his approach to showrunner Dave Filoni.
Luke Skywalker, but with an extra dash of Solo swagger
If you're looking for someone to defend the "Star Wars" prequels with equal amounts of passion and precise critical analysis, you would be hard-pressed to find a better-suited candidate than Dave Filoni. The accomplished Lucasfilm Animation boss turned Chief Creative Officer is about as knowledgeable about the franchise as they come, so it only makes sense that he would be the one to offer Lanter the most clear-cut advice about how to go about voicing Anakin. As the actor recalled:
"I actually had no idea I was auditioning for Anakin Skywalker. They told me the role I was reading for was a character named 'Deak Starkiller.' I did a quick online search but there wasn't much out there, so I really had no idea. I remember Dave Filoni suggesting I give them my best combination of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, and that's what got me the job. Obviously, there's a lot of Solo swagger in the 'Clone Wars' Anakin, a lot more than Anakin in the films."
It's not just the pronounced sense of swagger that sets the animated and live-action iterations of Anakins apart. As with Han Solo, Anakin in "Clone Wars" has an antihero streak to him that suggests he could just as readily find himself heading down a darker path as he could remain on the up and up. You get that same internal strife with Hayden Christensen playing the character in the prequels, but with Lanter on "Clone Wars" it's more subtle and less wooden. Even in Anakin's more petulant moments on the show, Lanter knows how to keep him sounding genuinely angry more than melodramatic or whiny.
As I said: when it comes to the tale of Anakin Skywalker, "Star Wars" has always had the right ingredients. It's just the execution that's inconsistent.