Star Wars' Anakin catches burglar in his home, gives him clothes and shoes instead of calling 911

Hayden Christensen justified the heroic quality of his "Star Wars" character, Anakin Skywalker, when he pardoned a burglar who was there to rob his home. He shared this incident while he walked the stage at L.A. Comic Con, which also doubled as the strangest fan encounter he ever had, according to an October 30, 2026, report by The Nerd Wire. He recalled that the intruder sneaked inside his home and started apologizing when caught. Instead of handing him over to the police, Christensen responded with Anakin’s heart and sent him over with gifts and a promise.

Bizarre introduction

The incident happened years ago when Christensen was waiting for a friend at his house while on a phone call. The first time he heard the footsteps upstairs, he thought his friend had entered and was just being weird. He even stood up and did a do-si-do walk around the fireplace to match the guest’s gesture before getting back on the phone call. It wasn’t until he faced the man that he realized he wasn’t a friend. “I’m like, is this a delivery guy?” he recalled. “And I look, and I’m like, this is all my stuff.”

He acted like a hero

To his surprise, the burglar recognized him and started profusely apologizing for trying to rob his stuff. It sounded like a Jedi mind trick, but it was just the actor’s fandom. He handed back Christensen’s things and revealed that he had fallen on hard times and was accumulating money for a ticket home. He said he also needed decent clothes to get a job. Instead of reporting him to the police, Christensen did exactly what Anakin would have done. He gave him some clothes and shoes and asked him to return the following day so he could ride him over to the train station and buy a ticket.

Ever since a star

According to FBI data, an estimated 779,542 burglaries occurred nationwide in 2024, with residential properties accounting for 52.1% of them. Of those burglaries, 55.4% involved forcible entry, while 37.9% involved unlawful entry without force, and 6.7% were attempted forcible entries. The number, however, was down more than 50% compared with 2015.

While Christensen’s own encounter with a burglar ended far differently from most, the story inevitably circles back to the role that made him a household name. His two main Anakin Skywalker films were enormous commercially. "Attack of the Clones" earned about $645.3 million worldwide, while the original run of "Revenge of the Sith" brought in about $850 million worldwide, nearly $1.5 billion combined.

'Don't try to burglarize my house again'

Recently, news broke out that Christensen is returning as Anakin Skywalker in Season 2 of "Ahsoka," per IGN. "I feel even more connected to Anakin now than I ever have because I've had more time to think about him and sort of try to understand him,” he said. Meanwhile, the man never returned to take the offer of the train ticket, but Christensen humorously wrapped up the story, telling the audience, “Please don’t try to burglarize my house again.I’ve got great security cameras.”

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