But yeah, I don’t want a Hayden ghost in ROTJ because it just doesn’t work to have a different actor in the same movie play the character, and because I feel it sends a message that Anakin merely regressed. Plus the footage used is dogshit.
I used to be in the same boat as you, but then I was beaten down by the endless barrage of kids asking me “Who’s that?” when Sebastian Shaw shows up next to Yoda and Obi-Wan at the end, even though they’d JUST seen the same actor playing Anakin only a few minutes earlier.
Granted, I show them the prequels and selected episodes of Clone Wars in between Empire and Jedi. Perhaps it’d be less of an issue if the prequels hadn’t cemented in their heads what Anakin Skywalker looks like. I think the aged up versions of Anakin fans helps fix the understandable regression issue.