The internet exploded in the fall of 2012 with the announcement that George Lucas soldStar Warsto Disney, just three years after the Mouse House purchased Marvel. This meant that not only would all expanded universe material be reorganized asStar Wars Legends, with only the six theatrical films and theClone Warsseries declared canon, but that the world would soon get all newStar Warsmaterial, from books to comics to video games, and of course, most excitingly, a brand new trilogy! Once J.J. Abrams was onboard to direct and co-writeStar Wars Episode VII, details were guarded more closely than the plans for the Death Star. Cast announcements and story details were valuable currency. Speculation ran rampant. Now, of course, the secrets ofThe Force Awakenshave been unlocked like a Jedi holocron. Here, we look at 10 things you never knew aboutStar Wars: The Force Awakens.
10David Fincher was in talks to direct.
During the six-month period between Disney’s purchase of all things Star Wars and the studio’s hiring of Star Trek reboot director J.J. Abrams, producers undoubtedly met with several directors. Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy has been tight lipped about which directors she met with but we do knowDavid Fincher was one of them. In 2014, the Seven director told Total Film he saw the first two chapters of the original trilogy as a story about the folly of man as observed by two slaves, C3PO and R2D2. He wanted to make something closer to The Empire Strikes Back for Episode VII than what Disney likely wanted. He did meet with Kennedy again in 2017 about potentially directing Episode IX but according to an interview with Empire, he was reluctant to make the kind of time commitment Star Wars requires.
9Matthew Vaughn almost directed.
Matthew Vaughn came so close to directing Episode VII, the X-Men: First Class director even dropped out of the next installment of Fox’s Marvel mutant franchise to do it. He reportedly wanted Chloe Grace Moritz in the lead and a darker tone overall, two things that ultimately derailed negotiations. He wrote and directed Kingsman: The Secret Service instead, while director Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men franchise and directed X-Men: Days of Future Past, from Vaughn’s script.
8Luke Skywalker was all over the early drafts.
Michael Arndt originally put the galaxy’s most famous Jedi into several key scenes in what became The Force Awakens, with plenty of dialog. Mark Hamill lost 50 lbs. and grew a killer Obi-Wan Kenobi style beard, arriving on set thinking he’d still be at least in the third act, even after J.J. Abrams and The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi cowriter Lawrence Kasdan had retooled the script. Arndt has spoken publicly about how hard it was to juggle all of the original trilogy characters and the new ones, particularly with Luke in the mix, something Abrams has backed up.
7Mark Hamill said plenty at the table read.
Remember how exciting it was when we saw those photos from the Episode VII table read? The whole gang was there. But wait! Now we know thatLuke Skywalker doesn’t say a damn thingin The Force Awakens. So what was Mark Hamill doing in that meeting? A New York Times profile of the actor published in 2017 revealed that J.J. Abrams was gracious enough to ask him to read the narrative parts. Hamill joked to the New York Times that the writer/director was trying to break him, like a horse.
6The Severed hand.
One of the most prominent rumors circulating prior to the movie’s arrival was the idea that The Force Awakens would open withLuke’s amputated handfloating in space, still clutching his father’s blue lightsaber, preserved by the freezing cold. But according to Mark Hamill, that rumor was based in fact. In a 2016 interview with The Sun, the actor said the movie was originally going to open that way, with the hand drifting to Jakku and burning up in the atmosphere, leaving only the lightsaber itself to drop to the surface of the planet, where an unnamed alien would discover it.
5There were many potential Reys.
Naturally, the chance to play a new character in a new Star Wars trilogy would be a dream role for any young actor. In addition to Matthew Vaughn’s preferred choice of Chloe Grace Moretz, potential Reys reportedly considered along with Daisy Ridley include Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Olsen, Shailene Woodley, and Saoirse Ronan.
4There were many potential Finns.
John Boyega more than delivered on the charismatic potential he demonstrated in Attack the Block. Other potential faces underneath that renegade Stormtrooper’s helmet included Michael B. Jordan and Ray Fisher, aka DCEU Justice Leaguer Cyborg.
3There were many potential Kylo Rens.
Who knows what would have happened with X-Men: Days of Future Past had young MagnetoMichael Fassbender landed the role of Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren. Lee Pace and Eddie Redmayne auditioned to play the masked servant of Supreme Leader Snoke.
2Better cameos than Attack of the Clones.
Thankfully that infamous NSYNC cameo during the Battle of Geonosis was excised from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. By now most fans are familiar with the fact that the voices of franchise stars Frank Oz, Ewan McGregor, and the late Sir Alec Guinness can all be heard in The Force Awakens. Most fans know Warwick Davis is in the picture, as well as James Bond star Daniel Craig. But there’s Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz, who both contributed to the sounds emanating from BB-8. There are several Game of Thrones veterans in the movie, including Mark Stanely as one of the Knights of Ren and Jessica Henwick as an X-Wing pilot. Henwick is probably better known now from Marvel’s Iron Fist and The Defenders. And there’s Ken Leung, who was part of J.J. Abrams Lost and had a small but solid part on The Sopranos.
1Carrie Fisher’s Daughter.
There are a bunch of other cameos as well, but our absolute favorite has to be Billie Lourd, who appears as a lieutenant in the Resistance. During an appearance on Ellen, the daughter of the late Carrie Fisher talked about how J.J. Abrams had initially had her audition to play Rey. Now if that had worked out, that sure would have ramped up all of the speculation about Rey’s true parentage, huh?
