Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Star Dominic Monaghan Earned Role Thanks to World Cup Bet

The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer offered fans their first brief glimpse at Dominic Monaghan‘s new character. There’s little known about the character other than that he appears to be working with the Resistance. Monaghan knew The Rise of Skywalker director from working on the television series Lost. In 2018, Monaghan revealed that his role in the film once rode a bet about a World Cup game. Monaghan recalled the story during an episode of the Distraction Pieces with Scroobius Pip podcast. According to Inverse, Monaghan revealed that his future in the Star Wars universe all rode on a game between England and Colombia.

“At the start of that game, because J.J. is a motherfucker in the best way possible, he emailed me and he said, ‘I think I have a Star Wars part for you,’” Monaghan said. “And I wrote back and said, ‘Brilliant, I won’t bother you but let me know if there’s anything I can do or what I can say.’ He wrote back and said, ‘If England beat Colombia, you’re in.’ I was like, oh mate, you bastard.” After 120 minutes of play and a penalty shoot-out, England claimed victory and Monaghan received the message, “You’re in.”

While details about Monaghan’s character are being kept a secret, he discussed the process during the podcast. “J.J. is a friend of mine and he said to me at some point I’d get the opportunity to read the script,” Monaghan said. “[He told me], ‘Just be aware of the fact that there are massive sequences in Act Two, there are massive sequences in Act Three but because we’re shooting Act One first, I’ve put you in there and you seem to not be around as much in Act Two and Act Three but that’s because that’s what we’re doing first so I want you here, I want you invested. So read the script but just know there won’t be long until there’ll be a re-draft of those things and we’ll see you a little bit more.’ So I read it, and the script is amazing and obviously there isn’t a lot I can say.”

Are you excited about Dominic Monaghan’s role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comment. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20th.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will conclude the Skywalker saga. Another Star Wars film trilogy is in the works from Game of Thrones writers DB Weiss and David Benioff. That trilogy will begin in 2022.

Star Wars is also headed to the Disney+ streaming service. The series The Mandalorian will debut on Disney+’s launch day, November 12th. A show following Obi-Wan Kenobi is in the works, with Ewan MacGregor returning to the role. Another series about Rogue One‘s Cassian Andor is also in development.