The Empire (State) Strikes Back! Darth Vader icon Hayden Christensen poses with Star Wars characters as he marks  iconic film's takeover event in NYC

Hayden Christensen faced the lure of the dark side once more on Thursday as he posed with his Star Wars villain alterego Darth Vader at a special event at NYC's Empire State Building.

The actor, 42, who played Anakin Skywalker and the ruthless Sith Lord in the Star Wars prequel trilogy from 2002-2005, looked delighted as he faced off with the supervillain and a Stormtrooper at the event ahead of May 4th.

He cut a dapper figure in an all-black ensemble paired with a grey overcoat as he warmly embraced the Galactic Empire soldiers.

The star has returned to his roots to mark the March to May 4 campaign honoring the incredible legacy of the Star Wars films.

The Empire State Building will be lit up in honor of the films on Thursday evening - with an LEGO exhibit on display.

Hayden Christensen faced the lure of the dark side once more on Thursday as he posed with his Star Wars villain alter-ego Darth Vader at a special event at NYC's Empire State Building

The actor, 42, who played Anakin Skywalker and the ruthless Sith Lord in the Star Wars prequel trilogy from 2002-2005, looked delighted as he faced off with the supervillain

Christensen is pictured as Anakin in 2005 film Revenge of the Sith

The Empire State Building will host a screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on Friday March 22.

The actor was just 19 when he landed the role of Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, in 2002's Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. 

Christensen now opened up on the entire process from the audition to filming to all of the negative backlash from the film in a wide-ranging interview with Empire. 

The actor revealed he was just 18 years old when his agent told him about a potential audition for the iconic character, though he thought it was too big for him to get.

He revealed he was just 11 or 12 years old when his older brother introduced him to the characters through all of his action figures, and later the movies themselves. 

'I was 18, and I got a call from my agent saying that they were casting for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars and I thought, “Wow, how cool.” But it just seemed too big,' Christensen admitted. 

'And I remember asking my agent, “Is there maybe another role that they’re also casting right now that you can put me up for? Because Anakin sort of seems unattainable.” And there was not. So I threw my name in the hat like everyone else,' he added.

Director George Lucas reportedly saw upwards of 1,500 actors to play the older Anakin, taking over the role from Jake Lloyd as the younger Anakin, one of whom was Leonardo DiCaprio, who is seven years older than Christensen.

The star has returned to his roots to mark the March to May 4 campaign honoring the incredible legacy of the Star Wars films

Christensen reprised his role as the Chosen One as he attended the event

Star Wars took over the Empire State on the day 

Christensen posed with his alterego and some Stormtroopers on the day

'I had heard that they’d met with Leonardo and a bunch of other actors. That just confirmed my thought that the role would go to another actor,' he admitted. 

'Through the entire auditioning process I had told myself, from day one, that I wasn’t going to get the part. It just wasn’t a possibility. And I think that probably helped me a lot, because it just freed me up in a lot of ways. And so it really came as a surprise to me when I got the part,' he said.

Before Episode II, Christensen had appeared in a handful of films and guest-starring TV show roles, with his most notable being 1999's The Virgin Suicides and 2001's Life As a House.

To say Attack of the Clones was his biggest movie to date is a huge understatement, though Christensen was up for the challenge.

'The scope of the opportunity — the enormity of it all — was exciting to me. It was obviously a little daunting too, but there’s a saying: “Pressure is privilege.” I just felt very lucky to have it. I was really thrilled that I was gonna get to express George’s mapping out of how someone goes from good to bad,' he said.

He added that he became 'close friends' with Ewan McGregor, who plays the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that he 'took him under his wing' for the production.

When the movie was released, while it was quite successful financially ($653.7 million worldwide from a $115 million budget), it received quite a bit of negativity from fans.

The star cut a dapper figure as he posed with Star Wars characters

The Empire State Building will be lit up in honor of the films on Thursday evening - with an LEGO exhibit on display

Christensen is seen as the fallen Anakin in Revenge of the Sith

'Because Star Wars has had the cultural impact that it has, these characters almost become public domain, where people feel a sense of ownership over them. The character was criticised, my performance was criticised, and that part sucked,' he admitted. 

'But I also felt like I had some context that perhaps helped a little bit. When Episode I came out, there was a lot of excitement that they were making a new Star Wars, and it was going to be the backstory of Darth Vader,' he said. 

'But I had friends that were upset that the character was starting off as this young kid. And I watched the film, and I loved it. It was everything I wanted and more. And I didn’t understand the disconnect between the movie that I saw, and the negativity in some of the reviews,' he admitted.

'In a way that sort of criticism, I think, comes from a certain failure of their own suspension of disbelief. If you’re gonna go sit in a theatre, and the opening scroll starts with, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away”, that’s setting the stage that anything is possible,' he said. 

Christensen was just 19 when he landed the role of Anakin

He added that he became 'close friends' with Ewan McGregor, who plays the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that he 'took him under his wing' for the production  

'These people don’t need to sound and behave the way that we might expect. And if you’re going to sit down and think that you’re getting something that is of our current zeitgeist, then you’re setting yourself up for something else,' he added.

While there was quite a bit of negative fan energy around the prequels when they were released in theaters, fans have now started to embrace his performance, with the actor always getting a massive ovation at convention appearances.

He has since come back to play Anakin/Darth Vader in the Disney Plus shows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, which he's quite grateful for.

'When we finished doing the prequels, it felt like that was it, and my journey with the character was over. So to get to come back now and do more with Anakin and Darth Vader was an amazing opportunity. I’m very grateful for the work that I got to do. The scenes that I got to do as Darth Vader on Obi-Wan, that was huge for me. 

'Being able to add a little bit more connective tissue to the character and to bridge the gap into Vader a little bit more is a very worthwhile thing. And the scenes that I got to do as Anakin on Ahsoka was a bucket-list item I didn't even know I had,' he said.