Star Wars Zero Company: Anakin’s New Face Sparks Boycott Calls
He survived Mustafar, the Dark Side, and three controversial prequels. But Anakin Skywalker’s real challenge in 2026? Winning over fans with his new face in Star Wars Zero Company.
Matt Lanter has voiced Anakin since 2008, from The Clone Wars to Battlefront II and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Yet when EA revealed a 3D model that looks more like the voice actor than Hayden Christensen, the fanbase exploded. Between boycott threats and defenders of the creative choice, the debate is raging around a tactical game that critics are already praising.
Image credit: Electronic Arts
A 3D model that’s hard to stomach
The issue jumps out from the very first screenshots shared on social media. The Anakin in Star Wars Zero Company looks nothing like the lightsaber-wielding hero millions saw in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The 3D model leans heavily on Matt Lanter’s features, the voice actor, rather than Hayden Christensen’s. The result? A face that instantly triggered a tidal wave of memes and some less-than-flattering comparisons.
On X, fans unleashed their creativity. Some see Tony Hawk in Jedi robes, others spot a lost Nathan Fillion wandering the galaxy. The harshest even compared him to Sloth Fratelli from The Goonies, while others pointed to Miles Teller as John Branca. Beyond the jokes, these reactions reveal a deep discomfort for part of the community—messing with Anakin’s face is messing with a symbol.
Boycotts and defenders: a divided community
The memes may be funny, but some fans aren’t laughing. One player summed up the frustration bluntly: “Do the devs have to pay Hayden to use his likeness? I can’t see any other reason to butcher a face in 2026.” Another went further, vowing not to play: “I won’t touch this game if they disrespect Anakin Skywalker like this. If you’re too cheap to hire the right actor, don’t include the character at all.”
On the other side, some try to keep things in perspective. “I don’t get why people are upset—he looks enough like Anakin. Sure, it’s not Hayden, but why pay for his likeness if it’s not his voice? It’s just a different style and everyone’s losing it,” one user reasoned. A pragmatic argument, but it’s not enough to cool the hottest tempers.
Matt Lanter vs Hayden Christensen: who’s the real Anakin?
This debate goes way beyond Star Wars Zero Company. It’s about the very identity of the character. Hayden Christensen played Anakin in the prequel trilogy and returned for the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries on Disney+. His face is the one most people link to the future Darth Vader. But Matt Lanter is no stranger to the Star Wars galaxy—since 2008, he’s voiced Anakin through seven seasons of The Clone Wars, the animated film, Tales of the Jedi, Star Wars Battlefront II, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
For a whole generation raised on the animated series, Lanter is Anakin. EA’s choice to model the character after him instead of Christensen actually makes sense: Zero Company is set during the Clone Wars era—Lanter’s home turf. Using his voice but someone else’s face would have been jarring. Of course, there’s also the matter of image rights—getting Christensen’s likeness costs extra, and EA clearly decided to sidestep that bill.
A great game, controversy aside
Amid all the noise, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters: Star Wars Zero Company is, first and foremost, a turn-based tactical game in the vein of XCOM, and early reviews are glowing. Several critics are calling it one of the best Star Wars games in years. By moving away from the third-person action games that have dominated the franchise lately—from the Jedi series, which Lucasfilm says still has more stories in store for Cal Kestis, to Star Wars Outlaws—EA is offering a fresh approach that seems to work.
Another detail that puts the controversy in perspective: Anakin only plays a limited role in the campaign, making the uproar even more surprising. But in the Star Wars universe, even a minor detail can spark a community earthquake. At least the most disgruntled fans can count on the PC modding community, who will probably whip up a Hayden Christensen-faced model in no time.
The timing doesn’t help either: Zero Company drops right in the middle of a historic PS5 launch season, with six AAA games packed into four weeks as everyone scrambles to dodge GTA VI. In this traffic jam, a controversy over a badly modeled jaw might just overshadow a title that deserves better.
While we wait for possible patches or mods, Star Wars Zero Company deserves to be judged for its tactical gameplay—not Anakin’s jawline. If EA really has fused XCOM-style strategy with the Clone Wars universe, this cosmetic controversy might vanish faster than a Force ghost.
PC, PlayStation 5, Star Wars, Xbox Series X|S
