Star Wars veteran Anthony Daniels, the sole actor to appear in every episodic Star Wars film since the 1977 George Lucas-directed original, expects and welcomes a future actor one day replacing him in the role of protocol droid C-3PO. When promoting recently published autobiography I am C-3PO: The Inside Story, Daniels acknowledged the iconic character will one day “go on without me,” adding he “absolutely” admits and accepts that Threepio is “too good of a character, too big of a character, to die with me” after the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
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“I surely recognize, I will someday leave the stage,” reads an excerpt from the final chapter of Daniels’ book. “I hope I will do so in the knowledge that I have imbued See-Threepio with enough life that, with the love of the fans, he will go on without me.”
Daniels readily accepts the role will move on without him.
“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 told RadioTimes.com. “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.”
The 73-year-old actor is satisfied with the impact the gold-plated droid has made on the franchise and the Star Wars galaxy, including Rise of Skywalker, where C-3PO enjoys a more prominent role.
“He’s the breadcrumbs, that help you recognize, as you follow the path, that this is a Star Wars path. And that was George Lucas’ original intention,” Daniels said. “R2 and 3PO would be ‘the common man’. Using ‘the common man’ as a trope in a piece of literature is not a new thing, that you are given a hero or something you recognize, to hold your hand, if you will, through the story. And how lucky it is that I got that part.”
As Daniels readies to step away, he previously admitted he was initially “insulted” when first approached for the role in what was a low-budget space opera.
“It’s very odd because I didn’t want the interview with George Lucas. I was insulted to be offered the part, or to discuss the part of a robot in a low budget science fiction film,” Daniels said in a recent interview. “My agent made me go, and here I am today. I am now a heritage player. I have to get this right, because I keep calling us heirloom players, which I’m told is a type of vegetable, or tomato. It’s Harrison [Ford], Mark Hamill, Billy [Dee Williams] and I — and more.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker releases Dec. 20.
