10 Most Hated Star Wars Characters

One of the great challenges of any prequel project is introducing young versions of existing, iconic characters, as George Lucas learned first hand when he made a 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker the protagonist of The Phantom Menace.

Though on paper Anakin seemed like a smart fit to give young viewers an "in" to the world of Star Wars, he was regrettably written to be annoyingly chirpy throughout the film, dropping groan-inducing one-liners like "Now this is pod-racing."

Many fans unfairly laid the blame at the feet of poor actor Jake Lloyd, who like any other child actor in his position simply had to try and make the best of Lucas' ropey dialogue and distant direction. That he has suffered so much for his part in the film is well documented and extremely disheartening.

Young Anakin was so flat and unappealing as-written that it really harmed his entire arc throughout the prequels. Hayden Christensen's subsequent portrayal had its own share of problems, but again, this was more down to Lucas' writing and direction than his own performance.

If nothing else, this portrayal of Anakin is shattering proof of just how difficult it is to go back in time and do true justice to statuesque icons of cinema.