You Won’t Believe These Actors Were Once Rumored For Roles In The Star Wars Trilogy

Once Disney announced a new trilogy of Star Wars The films would begin hitting theaters in 2015, with the internet going wild with speculation about who could possibly headline these feature films. After all, these films would be some of the greatest ever made and would provide all kinds of exposure to a new generation of young performers. Through a trio of films that began with The Force Awakensa host of now-famous figures like John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Naomi Ackie and countless others have all made their big break in Star Wars The installments of the sequel trilogy.

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Believe it or not, however, these actors and other stars of the Sequel Trilogy were almost ignored by other actors. The long casting process for these three Star Wars The films have seen many different actors sign on for various high-profile roles. Today, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Daisy Ridley playing a character like Rey. Once upon a time, however, in a galaxy not so far away, other interpreters were considered for this protagonist and other characters in the Sequel Trilogy. Here are some alternative casting choices for this collection of Star Wars movies!

Jessica Henwick as Rey

Before Daisy Ridley took on the role of Rey, it seemed like every young woman in the film industry was drawn to the lead role in the Sequel Trilogy. At the beginning of 2020, iron fist And The Matrix Resurrections Veteran Jessica Henwick revealed she was one of those candidates for the role. To pursue this role, Henwick underwent a grueling, months-long audition process that ultimately did not result in a role. Although losing Rey must have been crushing at the time, Henwick did very well in the years that followed with roles in feature films like Glass onion And The Royal Hotel.

Jesse Plemons as Finn

As 2014 dawned, Jesse Plemons was on the cusp of a career revolution. After breaking out as Todd Alquist in Break the badhe was ready to become a celebrity. The question was: what kind of fame would he achieve? In one timeline, this involved playing Finn in the Star Wars Trilogy continued. In March 2014, Plemons was listed alongside eventual Finnish performer John Boyega as one of the finalists for the role. Eventually, Plemons lost the role, which allowed him to take on a variety of memorable supporting roles in films like Game night, Bridge of Spies, And The Irishman throughout the rest of the 2010s.

(Related: You Won’t Believe These Actors Were Once Rumored For The 2015 Fantastic Four Movie)

Eddie Redmayne as Kylo Ren

Today, it is impossible to separate Adam Driver from the role of Kylo Ren. Since the team behind The Force Awakens went to great lengths to get around Driver’s Girls commitments to secure him the role, it is clear that JJ Abrams and Co. also saw him as a new ideal Star Wars wicked. Before Driver, however, Eddie Redmayne was a candidate for the role. His age and physical build are similar to Driver’s, not to mention he’s in great shape Les Miserables in the early 2010s, this made him a potential Kylo Ren. Of course, Driver (and his propensity for shirtless scenes) ultimately accepted the role. For those craving Redmayne as a maniacal cosmic villain, may I suggest Jupiter Ascending?

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rose Tico

Considering she was the most important new hero in The Last Jedi, the role of Rose Tico was highly sought after gone before Kelly Marie Tran got it. Among the many names proposed for the role was Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She connected so deeply with the role that it was even reported in September 2015 that she was outright cast in the role. The Last Jedi! Of course, that never happened and Tran ultimately got the role of Rose (much to her dismay). Gugu Mbatha-Raw would finally star in a major Disney sci-fi epic with his two-season role in the TV show Loki.

Joaquin Phoenix as DJ

Although Benicio del Toro left an extremely amusing impression in his The Last Jedi role as a DJ, he was not the first choice for this role. Joaquin Phoenix was originally approached to take on this morally unpredictable schemer. Phoenix’s long history as a loathsome and complex character in various independent films made him seem ripe to take on DJs. However, Phoenix and his aversion to big-budget projects never joined forces with The Last Jedi. This paved the way for Del Toro Star Wars beginning.

Matt Smith as unknown The Rise of Skywalker Character

The presence of Matt Smith in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was incredibly weird. Initially announced as part of the project (before Smith denied this development), the actor would end up confirming at the end of 2021 that he had indeed been chosen in an incarnation of TROS. Smith declined to reveal which specific character he would have played, but hinted that his role would have had significant repercussions on the film as a whole. Star Wars saga. Rampant rumors online suggest that Smith intended to play a slew of different characters, ranging from Palptaine’s offspring to the Son of Mortis character first seen in the film. Clone Wars cartoon. While no details have ever been officially revealed on who he would have played, it’s still fascinating to consider how close Smith got to a major player. Star Wars role.

Funny enough, Smith had the same thing with his role in the Terminator franchise, which would have seen him play a man-machine hybrid of the franchise’s villain, Skynet, after the failed reboot that was Terminator: Genisys.

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