Star Wars: The Force Awakens released on DVD and Blu-ray today, so we’ve been enjoying the newly revealed details and footage like the deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, explanations of why Kylo Ren went dark, and now, more about a celebrity cameo that didn’t work out.
We already knew Force Awakens was full of celebrity cameos, like Daniel Craig as a Stormtrooper in a memorable scene, Ben Schwartz and Bill Hader voicing BB-8, Simon Pegg in an Unkar Plutt costume, and numerous others like Ewan McGregor voicing Obi-Wan, Warwick Davis as a bar patron, and more. But one actor who wanted a cameo ultimately turned it down: Jon Stewart, the retired (sort of) host of The Daily Show turned co-runner of an animal sanctuary.
Empire Magazine spoke to Force Awakens editors Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon, creature designer Neal Scanlan, and concept artist Doug Chiang to gather trivia about the film. As it turns out, when the time came to offer Jon Stewart a cameo, only Stormtrooper roles were available. Stewart wanted to play someone on the light side of the Force, so he wasn’t in the movie after all. And hey, there are more movies he could pop up in to play a good guy.
If nothing else, Stewart will always be part of Star Wars thanks to a 2010 interview he conducted with George Lucas at Star Wars Celebration. When Stewart asked for the name of Obi-Wan’s home planet, Lucas joked “Stewjon” and now that’s canon. And then there was the work he and Stephen Colbert did for “Star Wars: Force For Change” in 2014. The pair made a video about a charity fundraiser which awarded a movie cameo to one lucky donor.
