Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Actor Recalls How He Found Out His Character Died

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is officially available to watch on digital and there are lots to be learned in the exciting special features. However, it’s not only digital bonus content that’s bringing us new TROS news. Recently, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Greg Grunberg, who played Snap Wexley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well as The Rise of Skywalker. Sadly, Grunberg’s character didn’t survive the final battle in the new film, which was discussed in the interview. “Did you ask J.J. [Abrams] to sacrifice Snap during the concluding battle for dramatic purposes, or was it his own doing?,” THR asked.

“The conversations that I had prior to shooting — and I can talk about them now — were that Snap would meet the fate that he did. When they were writing, J.J. would call me and say, ‘Alright, I have an idea. I just want to run it by you so you know that we’re thinking about this.’ And I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘We’re thinking about Snap dying. We need a moment like that to take the audience down.’ The way he worded it was very flattering. He said, ‘Everybody loves you and your character so much. It’d be a great moment.’ And I said, ‘Will it be earned?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna give you some decent moments,’ and I think he did, especially one scene where I got to ‘act’ with Carrie again. That moment gets a decent laugh, and it’s a warm moment. I also just love working with Kelly (Marie Tran).”

He continued, “So, he tells me this during the writing process and says, ‘We’re thinking about killing Snap.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know, man. I don’t want to die. (Laughs.) No one really dies in these movies. Let somebody else die.’ When I shot the first one, I was in the cockpit, and they had you read all these lines, such as ‘I got your back,’ ‘Watch your left’ and ‘I see him.’ They’re all these positive fight sequence lines. And then, they have you read a list like ‘I’ve been hit!’ ‘I’m going down!’ and ‘I can’t hold it!’ So, I refused to say those lines, and the second unit director called over to J.J. on the first unit to say, ‘Greg won’t say these lines’ J.J. was like, ‘Alright, well, if he won’t say them, he won’t say them.’ But, I knew they could always take my X-wing down, no problem. Cut to this movie, he told me during the writing that he was going to kill me, and I said, ‘Let’s talk about this. Are you ever going to do another Star Wars movie?’ And he said, ‘Never say never, but this is the last in this story.’ So, I said, ‘Look, you know best, but I’d rather not die.’ A couple months later, he said, ‘We’re thinking about not killing you,’ and I said, ‘Okay, again, whatever you think is best.’ Then, of course, I got the call saying, ‘No, it’s happening.’ Even on the set, they would have these big group scenes, and I was always included in those. We were shooting in this park called Black Park, and they called me to set. This was the day that Lin-Manuel Miranda was there as everybody is celebrating after they won. I get on set and J.J. is like, ‘Joonas, you go over there, and you two hug.’ Then, he looks at me and comes over to me because he doesn’t want everyone to know on the set. He’s like, ‘Dude, you can’t be here right now. You’re dead.’ I was like, ‘What!?’ That’s when it really became real. I knew, obviously; I read the script and had all those talks with J.J.. But, kicking me off the set because I’m not alive is when it really sunk in.”

THR added, “Since you and J.J. have a shorthand, did he say that he was going to ‘Seth Norris’ Snap?” Grunberg laughed and replied, “Well, we did joke that I’m the worst pilot in the history of TV and film, but he never said, ‘I’m going to Seth Norris you.’ That definitely crossed my mind, but at least he gave me more than two minutes on-screen in Star Wars. I did have a great moment on Lost, though, and we definitely compared it to Lost.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 31st.