15 Surprising Stars Who Auditioned for the “Star Wars” Franchise (Including the Marvel Star Who Read for “Rogue One”!)

It has been nearly 50 years since Han, Luke and Leia saved the galaxy in George Lucas' sci-fi epic

Audiences were transported to Tatooine for the first time 48 years ago, when Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977.

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford played the troublemaking trio of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo in the original trilogy — bringing to life what would become some of the most famous characters in film history.

The actors who appear in the various Star Wars movies will always be known for their roles in the sci-fi franchise, but the final cast list for the characters was close to looking very different.

So, who were some of the other people who auditioned for the various installments in the intergalactic epic? Here are 15 stars who almost hit hyperspace in the Star Wars film franchise.

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell nearly joined the Rebel Alliance as Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, since he was being considered for both roles.

In a 2015 interview with The Daily Beast, Russell recalled how it came down to choosing between starring in Star Wars or a new TV Western, The Quest.

"I was in there on Star Wars and remember asking [Star Wars creator] George [Lucas] one day, 'Do you think you’re going to use me or not?' And he said, 'I don’t know which part I prefer you in. I don’t know if I like you as Han and this guy as Skywalker, or this guy as Han and you as Skywalker. I don’t know.' ”

After Lucas said he couldn't give Russell an answer, the Overboard actor said, “ 'All right, I’m going to go take this Western and there will be one less guy to think about.' I don’t know if he would’ve hired me."

Jodie Foster

It's hard to imagine Leia being brought to life by anyone else besides Carrie Fisher, but the Princess of Alderaan was almost played by another young actress, Jodie Foster.

“They were going for a younger Princess Leia but I had a conflict," the Nyad star confirmed during a January 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

"I was doing a Disney movie and I just didn’t want to pull out because I was already under contract," she continued. "So, I didn’t do it and you know, they did an amazing job."

“I don’t know how good I would have been. I might have had different hair, you know. I might have gone with a pineapple," she joked, referring to Leia's now iconic hairstyle.

Robert Englund

Robert Englund has been literal nightmare fuel since he first played Freddy Krueger in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street — but the horror actor was close to wielding a lightsaber instead of Freddy's blade gloves.

Englund originally went in for an audition for Apocalypse Now. He didn't get the part, but a casting director suggested him for a “space movie that they were casting across the hall.”

Recalling seeing the name "Luke Skywalker" on the audition pages, Englund remembered thinking, "What a name ... I'd never heard the name before, I didn't know what it meant, just the coolest name in the world, Luke Skywalker."

As for the actual audition, Englund revealed, "All they did was take a polaroid of me."

He didn't get the part, but he mentioned the role to his friend Mark Hamill, who called his agent, and the rest is Hollywood history.

Saoirse Ronan

Lady Bird almost had a lightsaber, because Saoirse Ronan auditioned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“Nobody has a clue what it’s about, and nobody’s read the script," she said in a 2013 interview on Empire magazine's podcast, looking back on her tryout.

"So I’ve gone in and read for it, but I have to say, I think it’s the only time I’ve ever thought, ‘You know what? Even if I don’t get it, I had so much fun auditioning," Ronan continued. "Pretending to take out a lightsaber — out of a bag, kind of inspect it and not know what it is."

"That was great," she added. "A lightsaber! Star Wars!”

Sylvester Stallone

During an interview, Sylvester Stallone looked back on his awkward audition for Han Solo.

He had just finished filming Rocky, and he went in to read for Han, but he knew pretty quickly he wasn't right for the role.

"Let me just make it easy for you," Stallone recalled telling Lucas and the producers. "I would look like crap in spandex, leotards and a ray gun. Guys from space don't have this kind of face. I get it."

Burt Reynolds

Another actor who was considered for Han, the space scoundrel, was Burt Reynolds, but the Deliverance star turned down the offer.

"I just didn't want to play that kind of role at the time," he told Business Insider in 2016. "Now I regret it. I wish I would have done it."

Al Pacino

Al Pacino was also considered for Han Solo.

"After The Godfather, they would have let me play anything. They offered me the role of Han Solo in Star Wars," he wrote in his 2024 memoir, Sonny Boy. "So, there I am, reading Star Wars."

"I gave it to Charlie," he continued, referring to his friend and fellow actor, Charlie Laughton. "I said, 'Charlie, I can’t make anything out of this.' He calls me back. 'Neither can I.' So I didn’t do it."

Eddie Redmayne

Eddie Redmayne has searched for Fantastic Beasts, and even took the stage in Cabaret — but he could have donned the mask of Kylo Ren.

"With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines," he told Uproxx in 2016, recalling his audition for playing the Force Awakens villain. "So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on."

The Theory of Everything actor explained how he tried "different versions" of imitating Darth Vader's breathing, but ultimately didn't land the role of Han and Leia's dark-sided son.

Tom Holland

Tom Holland didn't go from web-slinger to lightsaber.

During a 2015 appearance on Hot Ones, the Spider-Man star revealed how he fumbled his audition for Finn in The Force Awakens because he kept laughing while his scene partner played a droid.

"I just got the giggles, because you know when you realize you've got something so wrong? I just couldn't stop laughing," said Holland. "I think John Boyega was just better for the role than me."

Ryan Phillippe

In a May 2025 interview with Variety, Ryan Phillippe described how he came close to playing adult Anakin in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

The Cruel Intention actor's seven-year age difference with Natalie Portman took him out of the running, however, and the part ultimately went to Hayden Christensen.

"Being a kid born in the ’70s, I was like, ‘What a dream that would’ve been,’” he said.

Joseph Fiennes

Joseph Fiennes could have followed Shakespeare in Love with The Phantom Menace.

Ewan McGregor wore the robe of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but Fiennes also auditioned for the role. During a 2017 interview with The Wrap, the Handmaid's Tale actor recalled reading for the part in front of Lucas and casting director Robin Gurland.

At the audition, he met someone's young daughter, “a lovely, delightful child,” he said. “Must’ve been around age 5 — and he introduced me, ‘this is Joe and he’s quite possibly Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“His daughter turned around and said ‘I don’t like this guy. He’s weird. I don’t like him,' " he continued. "And that’s how my audition went."

Michael B. Jordan

Michael B. Jordan's audition for The Force Awakens didn't go well for the actor.

"That was probably my worst audition to date," the Creed star said during a 2021 interview on the Just for Variety podcast.

"I couldn't wrap my brain around some of the sides, because when you're reading for these high-level projects, there's never really any specificity in the sides," he continued. "Everything's super vague, everything is secret."

"Reading through, I just couldn't connect it. I definitely bombed that one, for sure," Jordan recalled. "I'm pretty sure I ran out of there, just like, 'See you guys. I'm out of here.' "

Brie Larson

Brie Larson had the Death Star in her sights when she auditioned for a role in the Star Wars prequel, Rogue One.

In July 2020, the Captain Marvel actor was a guest on Rogue One co-writer Gary Whitta's Animal Crossing talk show, Animal Talking.

During their conversation, Whitta brought up working on the Star Wars prequel, which Larson responded, "I auditioned for that! I didn't get it."

Topher Grace

Topher Grace was also considered to play adult Anakin in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

"At the time, someone had seen me in a school play, and I’d only been cast in That ’70s Show, and I thought, Oh my god, this is obviously meant to be," he said in a 2021 Deadline interview.

"I was there basically because my haircut looked like [Phantom Menace actor] Jake Lloyd’s, I think," he continued. "And I’d still love to be in a Star Wars movie someday, but I can’t imagine I’m the right guy for them. I guess I’ll have to make do with riding the ride at Disneyland."

Cindy Williams

Cindy Williams was already a sitcom star on Laverne & Shirley when she read for the role of Princess Leia, but couldn't quite grasp the script's science-fiction-filled dialogue.

"I knew I wasn't going to get it. I knew it was going to be someone younger than me," Williams said in a 2013 Television Academy interview.

"But you could never think of anyone else being Princess Leia, you just couldn't," she said of Fisher, who ultimately won the role.

Williams, who died in 2023, had previously worked with Lucas on his 1973 movie, American Graffiti.