The Star Wars cinematic franchise is as vast as the galaxy far, far away, and to this day, it has only been growing at a tremendous pace. Thus, films, TV shows, and animated series have seen the involvement of many highly decorated film stars and legendary voice actors in various roles, especially if the star is part of the main cast.
There have been many stars who have either enchanted the audience with their performances and star power or become stars themselves in the process. But there are also those who couldn’t make the cut, a good example of this is Rob McElhenney, who had auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker in the franchise but was rejected because he didn’t have natural blue eyes.
Rob McElhenney Couldn’t Play Anakin Skywalker In Star Wars As His Eyes Weren’t Blue
The franchise that turned the entire film industry upside down with just the initial trilogy was the iconic Star Wars series. To this day, the reverence of the cinematic universe hasn’t dulled a bit, only grown at an unprecedented pace. Thus, stars from everywhere in the film industry want to be part of that legacy in one way or the other.
Rob McElhenney was actually going to make a big impact in the entire narrative of the Star Wars universe when he auditioned to play Anakin Skywalker, popularly known as Darth Vader.
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In a past interview with BuzzFeed, the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star, along with his partner and co-owner of Wrexham AFC Ryan Reynolds were talking about their then-upcoming docuseries while also talking about their careers. Here, the Deadpool star revealed that he once auditioned to play Superman in his career, but didn’t make the cut.
Then, McElhenney also talked about how he was auditioning for the role of Luke Skywalker’s father. He said that he was rejected solely on the fact that his eyes weren’t the shade of blue. He felt that this little detail was absurd, saying:
“I auditioned for Anakin Skywalker back in the original, and I remember them saying to me ‘It’s not going to work because he doesn’t have blue eyes.’ I was like ‘B*tch you’re like, creating entire armies full of mutant robots, but you can’t change somebody’s eyes?'”
The role eventually went to Hayden Christensen, who did an amazing job portraying the Jedi of the Dark Side in the prequel trilogy that followed.
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Why Is The Star Wars Franchise So Successful?
The film’s popularity has many reasons, but the one thing that made it reach the heights that it is today has to do with the immersion that it provides to the audience. Similar to what the MCU has been able to do in these past few years, Star Wars has been doing it for almost the past five decades.
Creating a cinematic franchise that has the ability and potential to branch out as much as possible from the original timeline and events opens the door for more stories to be told. And with the creation and execution of these stories being spot on, the franchise has managed to become the behemoth that it is today.
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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, streaming on Disney+.
