Whether as Bane, Mad Max, or Guy In Plane In Dunkirk, Tom Hardy is often unrecognizable and/or unintelligible. He’s especially hard to see or hear in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, because unlike Justin Theroux, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Edgar Wright, his cameo didn’t make the final cut. Hardy’s scene was left out of the theatrical version due to him reportedly being too short to play a Stormtrooper, and also because it’s really weird, even for a movie where our grizzled Jedi hero drinks green-milk from a beachside mutant-manatee.
The deleted scene takes place in the time between Finn, Rose, and DJ infiltrating the Supremacy, and the welcome return of Captain Phasma. While dressed in First Order uniforms, the good guys (and also DJ) run into a group of Stormtroopers in an elevator, including one played by Hardy (“926”) who has a history with Finn, or as he used to be known, “FN-2187.” Also, “926” has a Southern accent, which sounds odd in a Star Wars movie. It’s a taut moment of drama, where it feels like a blaster fight is brewing, but the tension breaks when “926” notes, “I know I’m not supposed to initiate contact with officers, but I never took you for captain material.” He then enthusiastically slaps Finn on the butt.
It would have felt out of place in The Last Jedi, but that’s what deleted scenes are for, and you can Hardy in all his butt-slapping glory below.