Before cameras were rolling for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, word was going out that Doctor Who star Matt Smith had been cast in the film. Smith was eventually dropped from the movie after some changes, and he now opens up about who he could have been playing in a recent talk with the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Here’s a post from the show’s Josh Horowitz:
Remember those reports that Matt Smith was going to be in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER? He told me his role was a big deal, representing “a big shift in the history of the [STAR WARS] franchise.”
WHO WAS HE GOING TO PLAY?!
Full video chat at https://t.co/e84WokCDhq pic.twitter.com/JGKiwPSba9
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) November 3, 2021
“We were close to me being in it, but it just never quite happened,” said Smith, and he said that the part had apparently become ‘obsolete’ as the story was being developed. He continues:
“It was a pretty groovy thing. It was a pretty groovy part, in concept… It’s a big story detail—transformative Star Wars story detail. It never quite got over the line… It was a big shift in the history of the franchise.”
If anything, Smith was only onboard early in development, but he confirms that he never even got to do a costume test. We don’t know which his character could have been, but some are convinced that he would have been a younger clone of Palpatine before Ian McDiarmid was brought back. There was certainly no role for Smith to fill in when it came to Trevorrow’s cancelled Duel of the Fates.
With Smith getting into some great projects like Last Night in Soho, it would have been fun to see a former Doctor running around in a Star Wars movie, but for now, I guess Smith just has an opportunity to make a comeback down the line.
I’m still waiting on that Solo: A Star Wars Story sequel. #MakeSolo2Happen Lucasfilm!
For now, the next Star Wars project, The Book of Boba Fett, is set to hit Disney+ on Dec. 29. Catch Smith in Last Night in Soho now in theaters.
