Update: Jonathan Kasdan emailed us to clarify things. The update appears at the end of the story.
(First of all, if you don’t want to know anything about Solo: A Star Wars Story, read no further even though this would probably be considered a minor spoiler, but you can’t be too careful.)
Speculation has been floating about Anthony Daniels’ role in Solo: A Star Wars Story ever since Mark Hamill let it be known on a recent podcast that Daniels would be appearing in the upcoming movie.
On Saturday, I spoke to Solo screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan, and the father-son duo revealed what Daniels is doing in the film – and this is a situation where you won’t know it’s him unless you know beforehand that it’s him.
I had asked if C-3PO is in the movie because there were rumors, but if he was in the film, I sure hadn’t seen him.
“No, but Anthony Daniels is in the movie as a different character,” says Jonathan Kasdan.
(Again, minor spoilers below. Eagle-eyed fans have already spotted this character in the trailer, but the added details might be considered spoilerish. But, most likely, it probably just won’t mean anything until you see the film.)
Kasdan continues, filling us in on Daniels’ role: “In the Papillon type offshoot story, the Wookiee that helps them escape, Chewbacca’s best friend, is played by Anthony Daniels – and beckons him to join them as they escape on a different ship.”
When I point out that this is the first Star Wars movie that doesn’t feature C-3PO and R2-D2, Lawrence Kasdan adds, “There are a lot of things about this movie that are different from all the others.”
So it’s official, Anthony Daniels’ streak of being in every Star Wars movie is alive and well, and it’s a safe bet that he will turn in his Wookiee costume for the familiar C-3PO suit by the time Star Wars: Episode IX rolls around in December of 2019. Solo, with Anthony Daniels playing a Wookiee, will hit theaters May 25th.
Update: Well, as it turns out, Anthony Daniels role as a Wookiee was short lived. Jonathan Kasdan has emailed us with a correction, which we are posting below. In Solo: A Star Wars Story, Daniels plays a character named Tak (in honor of famed cinematographer Tak Fujimoto) who shares a scene on Kessel with the Wookiees, but Daniels is playing a human and not a Wookiee. Kasdan explains:
“When I was talking about Anthony’s cameo, it was a mistake of my syntax, I think. In the escape from the Kessel Mines, Anthony does not play the Wookiee, Sagwa, but rather his best friend, a human slave who beckons Sagwa, not Chewie, to join his escape route. Sagwa in turn invites Chewie to join Tak and himself. I’m sorry that was confusing, so, to make it up to you, I’m including this screen shot from the script that we wrote when we found out we were going to have Anthony in the movie. He was named Tak in homage to legendary DP Tak Fujimoto. And that’s an exclusive, my friend. I’m not even sure Anthony knows his character’s name.”
And here’s the screenshot from the script that Kasdan sent along (warning, there may be some spoilers in here):
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