“I would have done that”: Tom Hanks Missed His Star Wars Cameo in One of the Best Films from the Franchise That Was Set Up for Failure

Star Wars is no stranger to celebrity cameos, especially through their stormtroopers. Celebrities such as Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy, Kevin Smith, Ed Sheeran, and Karl Urban have all gotten the opportunity to make brief cameos as the Stormtroopers in the Galaxy far, far away. But it wasn’t the case for all of them, as several A-listers never made it to the big screens despite coming close.

The list of actors, who almost made it, includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Kurt Russell, Michael Jackson, and Hollywood icon Tom Hanks, who, last year, reflected on missing out on the opportunity.

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Being Late Cost Tom Hanks the Chance to Make His Star Wars Debut

Having worked with Ron Howard in movies including Splash and the acclaimed Apollo 13, Tom Hanks revealed that his longtime collaborator offered him to make a cameo as a Stormtrooper in Solo. And while Hanks happily agreed to make his Star Wars debut in the brief role, his busy schedule foiled the plan, as he was unable to “get there in time”. He told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused:

“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.”

While it’d have been cool to witness Hank in the stormtrooper suit, it’s reasonable to say that even Tom Hank’s cameo couldn’t have salvaged the movie’s boat at the box office. However, Solo: A Star War Story‘s failure had little to do with the quality of the film but more with its release window.

Also read: “It was eating its way through my leg”: Tom Hanks Almost Lost His Life Due to Extreme Method Acting That Made Him Delirious at One Point

Solo: A Star Wars Story Was Doomed to Fail From the Start

Despite its shortcomings, Solo: A Star War Story can be considered one of the best modern entries the franchise has to offer. But despite being a fun watch, the movie was doomed to fail from the very get-go for various factors. While it was released on a special date for fans of the franchise, 25 May, the same day A New Hope hit theatres in ’77, considering Infinity War debuted just a month earlier, clashing with the MCU giant certainly didn’t help.

Also read: “I don’t think it’s a Lucasfilm priority”: Solo Sequel Most Likely Not Happening, Confirms Director Ron Howard

Furthermore, keeping in mind that fans were still overwhelmed by The Last Jedi, which too debuted a few months earlier, fans weren’t quite ready to welcome a new franchise entry. Even though Solo did respectable figures at the box office, nearing $400M, following its humongous budget that touched over $300M, it was a disaster for Disney.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is available to stream on Disney Plus.