Tom Hanks was recently a guest on the Happy Sad Confused podcast where he revealed that he had been asked to play a Stormtrooper in the Ron Howard film. However, he was unable to squeeze in the cameo because of his busy schedule.
“I would have done that, yeah. I couldn’t make that work. I couldn’t get there in time,” Hanks said. He then pointed out that a lot of celebrities had played Stormtroopers in the past, including the former 007 Daniel Craig.
“I think if you do a survey, all kinds of famous people have been in a stormtrooper outfit. I think Craig was in one. Movie executives have shown up to be a Stormtrooper,” Hanks said. He then admitted that he would still do it if his schedule allowed it.
“I’d do it,” Hanks stated. “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.”
For now, it’s unclear if Tom Hanks will get another chance to play a Stormtrooper or any other character in a Star Wars project. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Toy Story actor eventually shows up in the Star Wars Universe.
Tom Hanks recently played Colonel Tom Parker in the musical drama Elvis. His next big role is as Geppetto in the live-action Pinocchio film which hits Disney+ on September 8, 2022.