Once Disney announced a new trilogy of Star Wars movies would start hitting theaters in 2015, the internet went wild with speculation over who could possibly headline these features. After all, these films would be among the biggest ever made and provide all kinds of exposure to a new generation of younger performers. Across a trio of motion pictures that began with The Force Awakens, a bevy of now-known quantities like John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Naomi Ackie, and countless others all got their big breaks in Star Wars Sequel Trilogy installments.
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Believe it or not, though, these actors and other Sequel Trilogy stars were nearly passed over for other actors. The lengthy casting process for these three Star Wars movies saw a lot of different actors getting connected to various high-profile roles. Today, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Daisy Ridley portraying a character like Rey. Once upon a time, though, in a galaxy not so far, far away, other performers were considered for this protagonist and other Sequel Trilogy characters. Behold, alternate casting choices for this collection of Star Wars movies!
Jessica Henwick as Rey
Before Daisy Ridley took on the role of Rey, it felt like every young lady in the film industry was being eyeballed for the Sequel Trilogy lead role. In early 2020, Iron Fist and The Matrix Resurrections veteran Jessica Henwick revealed that she was one of those candidates for the part. To pursue the role, Henwick underwent a grueling multi-month audition process that ultimately didn’t yield a role. While losing out on Rey had to be crushing at the time, Henwick’s done just fine for herself in the years since thanks to roles in features like Glass Onion and The Royal Hotel.
Jesse Plemons as Finn
At the dawn of 2014, Jesse Plemons was on the cusp of a career revolution. After breaking out as Todd Alquist in Breaking Bad, he was poised for stardom. The question was, what kind of stardom would he achieve? In one timeline, that involved playing Finn in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. In March 2014, Plemons was listed alongside eventual Finn performer John Boyega as one of the finalists for the role. Eventually, Plemons lost out on the part, which allowed him the freedom to take on a variety of memorable supporting roles in movies like Game Night, Bridge of Spies, and The Irishman in the rest of the 2010s.
[Related: You Won’t Believe These Actors Were Once Rumored For 2015’s Fantastic Four Movie]
Eddie Redmayne as Kylo Ren
Today, it’s impossible to separate Adam Driver from the role of Kylo Ren. Given that the team behind The Force Awakens went to great lengths to work around Driver’s Girls commitments to secure him the part, it’s clear J.J. Abrams and Co. also saw him as an ideal new Star Wars baddie. Before Driver, though, Eddie Redmayne was a candidate for the part. His similar age and physical build to Driver, not to mention him being hot off Les Miserables in the early 2010s, made him a no-brainer for being a potential Kylo Ren. Of course, Driver (and his proclivity for shirtless scenes) embraced the role in the end. For those craving Redmayne as a maniacal cosmic baddie, may I suggest Jupiter Ascending?
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rose Tico
Seeing as she was the most prominent new hero in The Last Jedi, the role of Rose Tico was a heavily sought-after part before Kelly Marie Tran secured it. Among the many names floated for the role was Gugu Mbatha-Raw. She was so deeply connected to the part that it was even reported in September 2015 that she’d been outright cast in The Last Jedi! This, of course, never came to pass and Tran eventually secured the role of Rose (to her eventual dismay). Gugu Mbatha-Raw would finally act in a grand Disney sci-fi epic with her two-season role on the TV program Loki.
Joaquin Phoenix as DJ
Though Benicio del Toro left a tremendously fun impression in his The Last Jedi role of DJ, he was not the first pick for this part. Originally, Joaquin Phoenix was approached to take on this morally unpredictable schemer. Phoenix’s extensive history playing loathsome and complex figures in various indie movies made him seem ripe for tackling DJ. Phoenix and his adverseness to big-budget projects, though, never joined forces with The Last Jedi. This paved the way for del Toro’s Star Wars debut.
Matt Smith as an Unknown Rise of Skywalker Character
Matt Smith’s presence in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was incredibly bizarre. Initially announced as being cast in the project (before Smith denied this development), the actor would eventually confirm in late 2021 that he indeed had been cast in one incarnation of TRoS. Smith refused to offer up what specific character he would’ve played but did tease that his role would have had significant repercussions for the entire Star Wars saga. Rampant online rumors have suggested Smith was eyeballed to play a slew of different characters ranging from Palptaine’s offspring to the Son of Mortis character first seen in the Clone Wars cartoon. Though no specifics have ever been officially revealed on who he would have played, it’s still fascinating to consider how close Smith got to a major Star Wars role.
Funny enough, Smith had the same thing happen with his role in the Terminator franchise, which would’ve seen him playing a human-machine hybrid of the franchise villain, Skynet, after the failed reboot that was Terminator: Genisys.
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