Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker served not only as the final entry in the sequel trilogy of Star Wars films, but also wrapped up the events of the entire Skywalker Saga, which resulted in a number of figures from all corners of the galaxy far, far away making appearances, including Denis Lawson appearing as Wedge Antilles in the final battle between the Resistance and The Final Order. While his appearance in the final film was quite brief, the actor recently noted that director J.J. Abrams initially asked him to commit five days to shooting, likely including more bits of dialogue, but he was only available for one, resulting in the quick cameo.
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“J.J. Abrams got in touch with me directly, which is very unusual, they don’t do that,” Lawson shared with the Making Tracks podcast. “They wanted me to do five days on the movie, but I was in a play and then directing a play, so I was just out of it, and he said I don’t think we can make this work, and I said, ‘Come on, we can do this!’ So, instead of five days I just managed one, but it was lovely to get back on the set. It was nice to step back on, it really was.”
Based on these comments, it sounds as though Lawson wasn’t made entirely aware of whatever plans Abrams had for Wedge in the film, as the point of contention was solely based on availability, but we likely could have seen the pilot earn more screen time in the aerial battle, or potentially could have seen Wedge spend more time with the Resistance celebrating their victory.
Given the inherent challenges of wrapping up such a beloved series, a number of reports have emerged in the years since the film’s release about elements that were reimagined, reworked, or scrapped entirely. One such element involved the casting of Matt Smith, who didn’t appear in the final film and recently teased that he had been in talks for a game-changing role in the project.
“I could not possibly say, but it was a pretty groovy thing. It was a really groovy part and concept. It was a big thing, it was a big story detail. Like, a transformative Star Wars story detail, but it never quite got over the line,” Smith shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast of his potential role. “It was a big … shift in the history of the franchise.”
Stay tuned for details on the future of the Star Wars franchise.
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