Adam Driver is the actor known for portraying the role of Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise. Having a plethora of iconic characters to his name, the actor has quite a fan following for his role as Ren in the franchise.
In recent news, Driver shocked the world with his announcement that he will not be returning as the character of Kylo Ren. As per a post on X (via IGN), Adam Driver simply said about the Star Wars franchise that he’s “not doing anymore”. The actor, however, is not the only one not returning to the franchise. There are several other actors who also turned down the role of
1) Jodie Foster as Princess Leia
Before the role of Princess Leia was offered to Carrie Fisher, the role was Jodie Foster’s for the taking. Being 14 years old when she was offered the role, Foster refused the opportunity because of scheduling conflicts. The actress was working with Martin Scorsese in his 1976 movie Taxi Driver.
Jodie Foster revealed that she doesn’t regret turning down the role of Leia. Stating that this isn’t something that she would regret on her deathbed, Jodie Foster would have almost been a part of the Star Wars franchise.
2) Leonardo DiCaprio as Anakin Skywalker
Portraying the role of Luke Skywalker’s father, Leonardo DiCaprio was offered the role of Anakin Skywalker as far back as 1999. DiCaprio, however, had found fame by starring in the role of Jack Dawson in the iconic 1997 movie Titanic and thus turned the offer down.
The actor told Shortlist that he had met with director George Lucas for the role but said that “[I] just didn’t feel ready to take that dive”. Well, it could very well have been DiCaprio turning over to the dark side if he hadn’t turned down the opportunity!
3) Gary Oldman as General Grievous
Gary Oldman almost voiced the character of General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith were it not for a union technicality. Known for voicing several characters throughout his career, Gary Oldman is a VA alongside being an actor.
The voice of General Grievous could have been done by Gary Oldman but the movie was a non-Screen Actors Guild film. With SAG involved, Oldman was barred from lending his voice and thus, the role went on to another voice actor.
4) Al Pacino as Han Solo
Al Pacino is probably one of the most out-of-character choices for the Star Wars franchise. Being known for portraying the brutal role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Al Pacino was once offered the role of Han Solo before Harrison Ford.
Denying the opportunity, Al Pacino revealed during An Evening with Al Pacino that he did nothing more than give a career to Harrison Ford, “You know who else I gave a career to? Harrison Ford”. It would have been something else to see Al Pacino as Han Solo but it never came to pass.
5) Kurt Russell as Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker
Kurt Russell was initially offered the role of Luke Skywalker or Han Solo back when the Star Wars franchise was about to go into development. Being a famous actor in the 1970s, Russell decided to join the ABC series The Quest which ended up getting canceled after one season.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Kurt Russell said that he had a talk with George Lucas about the said role.
“‘I gotta make a decision on this Western and I gotta go to work,’ and he said, ‘I just can’t give you an answer.’ So I said, ‘All right, I’m going to go take this Western and there will be one less guy to think about.’”
Well, it seems that there were a lot of opportunities and several realities where the Star Wars franchise could have been very different. As for Adam Driver, fans are indeed sad that they won’t see him in the character of Kylo Ren again.
