Star Wars: C-3PO Actor Anthony Daniels Reveals What Makes Rise of Skywalker the Film to End On

Star Wars veteran Anthony Daniels, who reprises his role as C-3PO for the last time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is “not at all” sad his time with the franchise is coming to a close because writer-director JJ Abrams gave him confidence the ninth and final entry in the Skywalker Saga is “the one to end on.”

“By happenstance, one of the best films is going to be Rise of Skywalker that I have adored working on,” Daniels told The Star Wars Show. “I believe, the bits I’ve seen, knowing what happened on the set, knowing what JJ’s like with his huge brain, huge intellect, huge spark, his childish joy in the whole thing, that’s gonna make this film for me the one to end on.”

As the only actor to appear in all nine episodes of the 40-year Skywalker Saga, is Daniels sad it’s over? “No, not at all,” he said. “I think it’s good when a story comes to an end. Let’s stop here, because we had a great time.”

Daniels can’t yet reveal details behind his last time performing C-3PO, but it did come with an ironic twist: the famously chatty protocol droid had no lines.

“My last day, curiously, I was with other actors on the set. And I didn’t have a thing to say,” Daniels recalled. “C-3PO was there, looking around, didn’t have any lines. My last day, after all these years, nothing, nada. Isn’t that weird? It’s really ironic.”

In his recently published autobiography I am C-3PO: The Inside Story, Daniels wrote that he anticipates Threepio will move forward with a new actor in the role.

“Yes, I quite countenance that. There are people wandering around Disney theme parks, dressed in rather better suits than mine. They seem to move a lot more easily,” he previously told Radio Times. “I absolutely admit and accept that. And quite right: he is too good of a character, too big of a character, to die with me. And Disney paid a lot of money for him! You know what I mean? They’ve got to get their money back somehow.”

Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams join forces once again to take viewers on an epic journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the riveting conclusion of the seminal Skywalker saga, where new legends will be born and the final battle for freedom is yet to come.

Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Kelly Marie Tran, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Joonas Suotamo, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens December 20.