- 9 hours ago
These actors all had enough of Star Wars.
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00:00Star Wars is pretty much a dream gig for vast swaths of actors, but that doesn't mean it's
00:05necessarily a good fit for everybody, or that actors want to keep playing around in that
00:10Tatooine sandbox forever. And so, sometimes actors who've appeared in the franchise end
00:16up drawing a line and calling it a day. They're starting to walk away into that big old binary
00:20sunset, never to return. Or at least to not return until they decided that actually this
00:25is quite a nice gig. I'm Ewan Sleaze-Bagano, this is What Cult of Star Wars, and here are
00:307 Star Wars Actors Who Quit.
00:33Number 7. Freddie Prinze Jr.
00:36Freddie Prinze Jr. provided the voice of Jedi Caden Jarrus throughout Star Wars Rebels 4 Seasons,
00:41which culminated with the character's sacrificial death, seemingly bringing his Star Wars tenure
00:46to a natural enough end when the show too concluded in 2018. However, Prinze Jr. did end up reprising
00:52the role in cameo form in both The Rise of Skywalker and in an episode of Star Wars The
00:58Bad Batch's first season, since which he's straight up confirmed that he's 100% done
01:03with the character. In an interview with Christian Harloff, he said that, quote,
01:07I was asked to return for The Bad Batch, yeah. I didn't necessarily want to. I feel like every
01:12time you hear Kanan's voice since Rebels ended, it really kind of dilutes his impact. I didn't want
01:17to do The Rise of Skywalker either. I was asked as a favor, and I feel like all my, oh,
01:22their favors
01:23are used up now. Prinze Jr. further confirmed that he would not be appearing as the character
01:28in the upcoming live-action Ahsoka series, adding, quote, I'm done with Kanan. I'm too old for that
01:33stuff. While this technically doesn't preclude Prinze Jr. from playing another Star Wars character
01:39in the future, reading between the lines, it certainly sounds like he's happy to move on to
01:43other things. Also, gotta love that energy in general. Will he love Prinze Jr.? Great dude.
01:48Number 6. John Boyega John Boyega rose to prominence playing Finn
01:53in the Star Wars sequels, though since the release of The Rise of Skywalker, the actor
01:58has spoken candidly about his mixed experience working on the films, namely how Finn's role
02:04was reduced in importance over the course of the trilogy. But with the potential for future
02:09Star Wars films to bring Finn back into the fold, it was just a matter of time before
02:14Boyega was asked about his potential involvement, and in a serious XM interview last summer, he
02:19gave a characteristically no-nonsense response. Quote, at this point, I'm cool off it. I'm
02:25good off it. I think Finn is at a good confirmation point where you can just enjoy him in other
02:30things, the games, the animation. But I feel like The Force Awakens to The Rise of Skywalker
02:34was good for me. Boyega certainly sounds like he's genuinely done with Star Wars, which is
02:39especially interesting given that Disney is currently developing a new Star Wars movie
02:44centered around Daisy Ridley's Rey. You would think the studio would have loved to have
02:48Boyega be a part of it, but evidently that's not going to happen. Either way, it's onwards
02:52and upwards for Boyega. Really excited to see where his career goes next.
02:56Number 5. Benicio Del Toro
02:59Benicio Del Toro played the small but memorable role of DJ in The Last Jedi, but it actually
03:04wasn't the first time he was set to play a character in the Star Wars universe. Del Toro
03:09was apparently not only considered to play Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, but it even
03:13won the part and was basically locked into playing the villain for several months of pre-production.
03:18However, once George Lucas reduced Maul's role during script rewrites, Del Toro opted to
03:24quit the film and for the better part of 20 years to even lead the franchise as a whole. Given
03:29that
03:29he instead went on to appear in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic the very next year, for which he won a
03:34Best Supporting Actor Oscar, he's probably pretty okay with how things turned out. As for Del Toro's
03:39potential future in the franchise, he's expressed an interest in reprising the role of DJ, though it's
03:44also tough to consider where he'd possibly fit in in a future project.
03:48Number 4. James Earl Jones
03:50James Earl Jones has of course provided the iconic voice of Darth Vader for almost an entire
03:56half century, across a bevy of Star Wars media from movies to TV shows and so on. But last
04:02summer, Jones confirmed that he had officially retired from voicing Vader, and that his final
04:07time personally portraying the character was in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. However, what
04:13makes Jones' departure especially interesting is that he came to an agreement with Disney for
04:18his voice to be licensed out in perpetuity, with the cutting edge AI software being used
04:23to generate new dialogue, using Jones' existing voice recordings as a reference.
04:29The tech was first used in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and let's be honest, would you have any idea
04:34it wasn't Jones voicing Vader unless someone told you? But full disclosure everyone, I hate
04:40this. We've had loads of other Darth Vader voice actors in games before. Latching onto Jones'
04:45voice this way feels like a grim prophecy of where the studios might be taking this technology.
04:51And yeah, I'd rather Star Wars wasn't a part of it.
04:53Number 3. Dennis Lawson
04:56Dennis Lawson played X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy, though in
05:01the decades that followed, the actor largely swore off the franchise, only lending his voice
05:06to the 2001 video game Star Wars Rogue Squadron II, Rogue Leader. In fact, leading up to the release
05:11of The Force Awakens, rumors began swirling that Lawson would finally reprise the role of Wedge
05:17in live-action form, only for him to bluntly reply that he was done with the series. Quote,
05:22I'm not gonna do that. They asked me, but it just would have bored me.
05:25More recently, Lawson's nephew, Ewan McGregor, who of course plays the younger version of Obi-Wan
05:30Kenobi, suggested that his uncle isn't too fond of the entire circus of fandom surrounding the
05:35franchise. Quote, he was always really dismissive of it because he did a couple of weeks' work,
05:39sitting in a cardboard spaceship, and yet he had this massive following. It sort of annoyed him.
05:44However, in an unexpected twist of fate, Lawson did indeed return for a blink-and-you'll-missed
05:50cameo as Wedge in The Rise of Skywalker, and has since lent his voice to the Star Wars Squadrons
05:55video game and also an episode of the animated anthology series Star Wars Visions.
05:59Number 2. Ahmed Best
06:02Few actors, if any, have had a rougher time with Star Wars than Ahmed Best. Portrayed Jar Jar
06:08Binks in the prequel trilogy, and proceeded to be mauled by grown adults upset at a children's
06:13comic relief appearing in a kids movie. Yes, I'm going there. I was three when The Phantom Menace
06:18came out and had a dancing Jar Jar and a cuddly Jar Jar plush. I was Jar Jar Man.
06:22The personal attacks leveled against Best over the years became so overwhelming as to send him into
06:28a deep depression, though he did nevertheless return to voice Jar Jar in several Robot Chicken episodes,
06:34the Star Wars The Clone Wars animated series, and the animated short Lego Star Wars The Empire Strikes Out.
06:40Yet, in 2016, Best confirmed that he had quit Star Wars for good, stating in an interview with the
06:47YouTube channel These Are The Actors You're Looking For that he felt he'd done enough as Jar Jar.
06:52Quote, I think I've done my damage. I'm good with where I stand in the Star Wars universe.
06:57I'd say no. I think I did what I did. I thought it was great. It was fun. But now
07:01it's time to move on.
07:03Best kept his word for a few years, though seemingly had a change of heart once Lucasfilm
07:07approached him to return the Star Wars franchise as an entirely new character.
07:12In 2020, Best hosted the game show Star Wars Jedi Temple Challenge as a new Jedi master by the name
07:18of
07:18Hellerin Beck, who reappeared more recently in The Mandalorian's third season, where he was revealed
07:23to be the Jedi who saved Grogu from Order 66. All in all, a lovely conclusion to Best's difficult
07:29Star Wars journey. 1. Terran Stamp
07:32Terran Stamp was an undeniably brilliant get for The Phantom Menace, even if his acting talents were
07:38largely wasted on the relatively unremarkable character of Chancellor Finnis Valorum, who was
07:44eventually kicked out of the Senate and replaced by Palpatine, played of course by Ian McDermott.
07:48In the years since the film's release, Stamp has minced no words at all about his displeasure
07:52shooting his few scenes, citing George Lucas's ostensible lack of interest in performance over
07:58the movie's cutting-edge visual effects. Stamp said in an interview with Empire that, quote,
08:03we didn't get on at all. I didn't rate him that much as a director, really. I didn't feel like
08:07he was
08:07a director of actors. He was more interested in stuff and effects. He didn't interest me, and I
08:13wouldn't think I interested him. I came all the way back from Australia to do it. I didn't want to,
08:18but my agent leaned on me and I wanted to meet Natalie Portman because I'd seen her in Leon.
08:22And I did meet her, and she was absolutely enchanting. But on the day I'm supposed to
08:26do my scene with her, for which I traveled halfway around the world, I said, where's Natalie? And
08:31George says, that's Natalie, and points to a bit of paper on the wall. It was just boring.
08:37Stamp added that he also wasn't well compensated for his role in the $150 million temp hole. And when he
08:44agreed to come back for a day of reshoots in exchange for a gift, Lucas ended up giving him
08:48some Star Wars stencils. As such, Stamp elected not to reprise his role for either of the prequel
08:54movies that followed, ditching a franchise that evidently didn't have much interesting work for
08:59him anyway. And there you have it, seven actors who quit Star Wars. Are there any other actors you
09:04hope will return to the galaxy far, far away? Or do you feel like it's for the best that they
09:08parted ways?
09:09Post your thoughts down in the comments below, and please be sure to drop the video a like if you
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09:21Eward, this has been World Culture Star Wars, and until next time, may the Force be with you. Bye!
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