Tom Hanks reveals his Star Wars cameo that never ended up coming to pass. Hanks is one of the most recognizable actors working today, rising to fame with movies like Big, Cast Away, Forest Gump, and Saving Private Ryan. The actor, widely considered one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, more recently starred in News of the World and Finch, before taking on the role of Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis this summer. Hanks can next be seen in Robert Zemeckis' Pinocchio, taking on the role of Geppetto.
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Although Hanks has appeared in a number of acclaimed films over the course of his long career, the actor has never appeared in Star Wars film. After George Lucas' 1977 film introduced audiences to his galaxy far, far, away, Star Wars has since become one of the most beloved and successful franchises of all time. Although 2005's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith marked the end of Lucas' prequel trilogy, Disney acquired Lucasfilm in the early 2010s, with the company's first take on the franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, continuing the Skywalker Saga in 2015. The series of new Star Wars films have all featured a number of celebrity cameos, and now, Hanks reveals that he was almost among them.
In a new interview on Josh Horowitz' Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hanks revealed that he almost had a cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the 2018 Han Solo origin story film. The actor reveals that he would have played a stormtrooper in the film, but that scheduling conflicts ultimately prevented him from appearing. Check out Hanks' full comment below when asked about his cameo:
"I would have done that, yeah. I couldn’t make that work. I couldn’t get there in time. I think if you do a survey, all kinds of famous people have been in a stormtrooper outfit. I think [Daniel] Craig was in one. Movie executives have shown up to be a stormtrooper. I’d do it. That was one thing about Star Wars, within the first 45 seconds of it, as soon as you saw a stormtrooper, never mind Darth Vader, but as soon as you saw those guys running around in those stormtrooper outfits, you were in the hands of something that had been really well-thought-out."
Directed by Ron Howard, Solo: A Star Wars Story saw Alden Ehrenreich take on the role of Han Solo, with the film ultimately earning mixed reviews from critics and disappointing at the box office. Although Hanks' stormtrooper cameo never came to pass, the actor would've joined a number of other stars who have also shown up in the Disney Star Wars films for cameos, including Simon Pegg, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Karl Urban. While it's almost always impossible to spot the stars on screen due to their makeup or stormtrooper helmets, they're often given a few lines of dialogue, with some fans being able to recognize their voices.
It's unclear under what circumstances Hanks' stormtrooper would've appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but the continued release of new Star Wars projects means there's certainly still time for the cameo to happen. While there hasn't been a film since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and Skeleton Crew could all provide an opportunity for a cameo from Hanks. Plus, with new Star Wars projects in the works from Taika Waititi and Patty Jenkins, there will hopefully be plenty of opportunities in the next few years for Hanks' schedule to open up.