#Tom Holland Auditioned for a Star Wars Role That Would Have Changed The Force Awakens

Tom Holland, had things gone another way, could have been part of a very different, massive franchise. The actor, who currently plays Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently revealed that he was up for the part of Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Had that panned out, it would have been Holland helping to usher in the Disney era of Star Wars, not John Boyega.

Tom Holland made the reveal during a recent interview. Tom Holland has been making the rounds to promote his new movie, Cherry. As Holland explains, he got several auditions deep for the role of Finn. However, things didn’t go particularly well during one of those auditions. Here’s what Holland had to say about it.
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“I’ve had quite a few. I’ve read the wrong lines at the wrong audition before. I remember my audition for Star Wars, I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega’s role. I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, ‘We gotta get back to the ship!’ And she was going, ‘Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.’ I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called. Yeah, I obviously didn’t get the part. That wasn’t my best moment.”

In the end, John Boyega was cast as Finn, aka FN-2187. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we meet the Stormtrooper who decides to defect from the First Order. He then joins the Resistance, becoming one of the key figures, alongside Daisy Ridley’s Rey, that we followed in the sequel trilogy. In an alternate reality, that could have been Tom Holland. In that scenario, we likely would have had a different Spider-Man as well, given that he probably couldn’t have handled both roles at the same time.

Interestingly enough, Tom Holland would have starred with Daisy Ridley in the Star Wars sequels. As it happens, that pairing came to fruition elsewhere, as the two are leading the long-gestating adaptation of the YA novel Chaos Walking, which finally hits theaters this year. Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) directed the movie, which had a famously troubled production.

Things worked out in the end. Tom Holland has had a tremendous run as Peter Parker, starring in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The run will continue with the untitled Spider-Man 3 this year. He is also starring as Nathan Drake in Sony’s Uncharted movie, which has wrapped production.

John Boyega, meanwhile, got his big break as Finn. Though the actor has since expressed his dissatisfaction with Lucasfilm for sidelining Finn and other non-white characters, such as Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose, in both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. This news comes to us via Backstage.

Topics: Force Awakens, Star Wars