Stars You Forgot Were in the ‘Star Wars’ Universe: Prince William, Daniel Craig and More

Credit: Shutterstock (4)

Stars You Forgot Were in the 'Star Wars' Universe: Prince William, Daniel Craig and More

Cameo alert! Many stars — including the likes of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Natalie Portman and Adam Driver — have explored a galaxy far, far away in various Star Wars films or TV series. However, the main intergalactic adventurers are not the only stars that the sci-fi franchise has seen.

Across its original movies and newer Disney+ series, even more celebrities have been acted in blink-and-you-missed-it surprise cameos, including Prince William, Prince Harry, Rosario Dawson and Daniel Craig.

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, for their part, both secretly filmed a brief scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi as stormtroopers. While the scene was ultimately cut ahead of the movie’s theatrical release, the clip later made headlines in an extended cut years later.

“They were very nice: Prince William was funny, and Harry as well,” Benicio del Toro, who played a hacker in Last Jedi, told Radio Times in December 2017 of his set experiences with the royal brothers. “I think they were very nice. I don’t know how to explain it, but they were very normal. Which is very nice.”

Meanwhile, fans were thrilled by Dawson’s casting after learning that she would bring the animated character of Ahsoka Tano to life on Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

“People have been fan-casting me on all kinds of things, like She-Hulk and stuff. And I always just think it’s really fun because I get to see myself in different kinds of art,” Dawson recalled during a November 2020 Vanity Fair interview. “But then I got a FaceTime call from Jon Favreau and Dave [Filoni]. They were building out The Mandalorian, and I got to have a behind-the-scenes look at visuals and concept [from] what they were planning on doing with this second season. They were just about to drop the first one, and they had all of this art that had me as Ahsoka. They had already been preparing, knowing that they wanted to have her be a part of a story in the second season. They’d just been visualizing me in this role that whole time, and it was mind-boggling.”

The Dopesick actress continued at the time, gushing over the role: “I was pacing and jumping up and down, trying to keep really cool in my voice, but I was freaking out. I mean, this is real Star Wars — the font, the look, the art, the everything, and my face in there. I just, I couldn’t. I was beside myself, and they were asking, ‘Do you want to do this? I mean, we appreciate if it’s not something you want to do.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, no, no, that would be cool, actually. I think we could maybe work this out.’”

While many of these celebrity cameos have been fun and light-hearted, a posthumous appearance by Fisher in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker added a somber touch.

“To be in her final acting [project], in this movie or be it via unused footage, [it] was very emotional to see,” Richard E. Grant, who costarred in the film, exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2019. “It’s been seamlessly done. You wouldn’t know that it hadn’t been shot specifically for this movie.”

Keep scrolling to revisit which stars have made quick appearances throughout the Star Wars franchise:

Credit: Shutterstock (4)

Stars You Forgot Were in the 'Star Wars' Universe: Prince William, Daniel Craig and More

Cameo alert! Many stars — including the likes of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Natalie Portman and Adam Driver — have explored a galaxy far, far away in various Star Wars films or TV series. However, the main intergalactic adventurers are not the only stars that the sci-fi franchise has seen.

Across its original movies and newer Disney+ series, even more celebrities have been acted in blink-and-you-missed-it surprise cameos, including Prince William, Prince Harry, Rosario Dawson and Daniel Craig.

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, for their part, both secretly filmed a brief scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi as stormtroopers. While the scene was ultimately cut ahead of the movie’s theatrical release, the clip later made headlines in an extended cut years later.

“They were very nice: Prince William was funny, and Harry as well,” Benicio del Toro, who played a hacker in Last Jedi, told Radio Times in December 2017 of his set experiences with the royal brothers. “I think they were very nice. I don’t know how to explain it, but they were very normal. Which is very nice.”

Meanwhile, fans were thrilled by Dawson’s casting after learning that she would bring the animated character of Ahsoka Tano to life on Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

“People have been fan-casting me on all kinds of things, like She-Hulk and stuff. And I always just think it’s really fun because I get to see myself in different kinds of art,” Dawson recalled during a November 2020 Vanity Fair interview. “But then I got a FaceTime call from Jon Favreau and Dave [Filoni]. They were building out The Mandalorian, and I got to have a behind-the-scenes look at visuals and concept [from] what they were planning on doing with this second season. They were just about to drop the first one, and they had all of this art that had me as Ahsoka. They had already been preparing, knowing that they wanted to have her be a part of a story in the second season. They’d just been visualizing me in this role that whole time, and it was mind-boggling.”

The Dopesick actress continued at the time, gushing over the role: “I was pacing and jumping up and down, trying to keep really cool in my voice, but I was freaking out. I mean, this is real Star Wars — the font, the look, the art, the everything, and my face in there. I just, I couldn’t. I was beside myself, and they were asking, ‘Do you want to do this? I mean, we appreciate if it’s not something you want to do.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, no, no, that would be cool, actually. I think we could maybe work this out.’”

While many of these celebrity cameos have been fun and light-hearted, a posthumous appearance by Fisher in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker added a somber touch.

“To be in her final acting [project], in this movie or be it via unused footage, [it] was very emotional to see,” Richard E. Grant, who costarred in the film, exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2019. “It’s been seamlessly done. You wouldn’t know that it hadn’t been shot specifically for this movie.”

Keep scrolling to revisit which stars have made quick appearances throughout the Star Wars franchise:

Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock ; Youtube

Bill Burr

The stand-up comedian appeared in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian as mercenary Migs Mayfield.

Credit: Vince Bucci/Invision/AP/Shutterstock ; Lucasfilm Ltd.

Amy Sedaris

The comedian appeared in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett as Peli Motto, a cranky ship mechanic.

Credit: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock ; Lucasfilm Ltd.

Taika Waititi

The Thor: Ragnarok director provided the voice for the assassin droid IG-11 in the first season of The Mandalorian. Waititi even earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the role.

Credit: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock ; Lucasfilm

John Leguizamo

The Encanto actor voiced Gor Koresh, a one-eyed crime boss, in the second season of The Mandalorian.

Credit: Courtesy of Disney +

Timothy Olyphant

The Santa Clarita Diet alum appeared in the second season of The Mandalorian as Cobb Vanth, who was impersonating bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Credit: Richard Young/Shutterstock

Keira Knightley

The Pride & Prejudice star played a body double for Portman’s Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo in Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

“I mean, I was 12. I literally don’t remember,” the England native recalled during a March 2020 interview with Total Film magazine. “I remember the headdress being so heavy, it gave me a headache. I really remember the headache from one of the headdresses. And I remember being in the background for such a long time that I’d actually fallen asleep. I was just sitting in a chair, and I was in the background, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I really remember that. But apart from that, I don’t remember anything else about it.”

Credit: David Fisher/BIFA/Shutterstock

Dominic West

The Affair alum had a minor role in Episode I: The Phantom Menace as one of the Naboo palace guards.

Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Rose Byrne

The Bridesmaids actress played a handmaiden to Queen Amidala in Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

“I sort of stood there going, [nodding] ‘Uh huh,’” the Australia native told Uproxx in November 2018. “I think they just had to, it was shot in Sydney, so they had to get a bunch of Australians in the cast. I think that’s why I got the part. … I’m, like, one of the point zero one percent who is not a Star Wars fan.”

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Bill Hader

Shortly after Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in April 2014, it was announced that the Saturday Night Live alum voiced BB-8 in the film.


"[It was] J.J. [Abrams] f—king around with this sound effects app on his iPad that was attached to a talk box operated by me,” Hader told HitFix’s Drew McWeeny at the time. “It looked ridiculous, but it made BB-8's voice. At first, I tried doing a voice, but we all agreed it sounded too human."

Credit: Dan Wooller/Shutterstock

Thomas Brodie-Sangster

The Love Actually actor, a big fan of the franchise, played First Officer Thannisson in The Force Awakens before telling USA Today in January 2018, “I keep saying that I’ve always wanted to play a baddie. And that counts,” noting that the call from his management team about the role immediately piqued his interest.


“They said, 'It’s a bit odd. There’s a part in Star Wars, it films next week, we don’t really know much about it. But it might be a baddie and we think there's a line. Do you want to do it?'" Brodie-Sangster told the outlet. "And I was like, 'Um, Yeah! It’s Star Wars!' It’s a big childhood thing to tick off the list. Just immediately yes. Of course."

Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock

Daniel Craig

After denying previous speculation, it was revealed in December 2015 that the Skyfall star played a stormtrooper in The Force Awakens. In one scene, Daisy Ridley’s Rey has been captured and attempts to pull off a Jedi mind trick for the first time.

“You will remove these restraints and leave this cell with the door open,” Rey explains to Craig’s stormtrooper. Craig then replied, “I’ll tighten those restraints, scavenger scum."

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Billie Lourd

Following Fisher’s death, her daughter stepped in as a younger version of Fisher’s Princess Leia in the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.


“Billie was playing her mother. It was a poignant thing, and something that nobody took lightly — that she was willing to stand in for her mom,” Patrick Tubach, the visual effects supervisor for ILM, a division of Lucasfilm, told Yahoo! Entertainment at the time.


The Booksmart actress also played Lieutenant Connix in the sequel trilogy.

Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Jodie Comer

The Killing Eve star played Rey’s mother in Rise of Skywalker during a flashback scene.


”It was spectacular," Comer told Entertainment Weekly in June 2021. "But I had to keep that a secret for a long, long, long time. That's a beast of its own. Hearing the detail that goes into the makeup and the costumes, it was so eye-opening. Speaking about green screen and visual effects, when I got Star Wars, I was like, 'They'll probably be a lot that I don't see.' But these kinds of figures, their mouths move and they were remote-controlled and there was so much there that you didn't have to imagine."

Credit: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Prince William and Prince Harry

After the England natives visited the U.K. set in April 2016, they suited up to briefly play armed stormtrooper guards in one scene. While the scene was eventually cut, the footage was later released in an extended cut.

Credit: AFF-USA/Shutterstock

Joseph Gordon Levitt

The 10 Things I Hate About You actor, who’s previously been vocal about his Star Wars fandom, had a brief role as Slowen Lo during one scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

Lin Manuel-Miranda

After the Hamilton creator served as a composer for the later flicks, he had a brief onscreen cameo in The Rise of Skywalker.

“I jokingly said [to Abrams], 'Well, if you need any cantina music for Episode VII, I'm your guy.' He looks up and goes, 'I do need music for the cantina in Episode VII. John Williams doesn't want to write that part,'" the New York native told SFGate in May 2021. "Smash cut to a few months later, I'm supposed to be writing Moana, but every spare second, I have a shared document with J.J. and we're writing the cantina music for Episode VII."

Credit: Vince Bucci/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Jason Sudeikis

The Ted Lasso actor is another star who’s worn a stormtrooper suit, this time for a quick role in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, punching Baby Yoda.


“Yeah, that was a whole thing,” the Kansas native told Uproxx in June 2020. “You know what? I kind of forgot about it. I can’t remember exactly how many weeks, months went by from when Adam Pally and I did that with Favreau and Taika Waititi. For me, the most significant thing was my little boy Otis, who, like any little kid from the last 50 years, loves Star Wars. And I remember he even got to see Baby Yoda.”

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

Rosario Dawson

“I think it definitely was the Force at work,” she told StarWars.com in December 2020 of her role in Favreau’s The Mandalorian. "When I spoke with Dave about it and they started talking about doing this show and he did the math of what year it was, he kind of revisited that idea of me for the character, and with my age versus where she would be, and said, ‘This is actually a feasible thing.”

Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Kumail Nanjiani

The Eternals actor appeared as con artist Haja Estree in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, which premiered in May 2022. "He's the guy who's worked really hard to stay out of the bigger conflicts at play," Nanjiani told Entertainment Weekly of his character. "He just kind of wants to be his own guy. Survival for him is all that matters."

Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock

Flea

In Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist played bounty hunter Vect Nokru, who was hired to kidnap a young Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair).

Credit: AFF-USA/Shutterstock

Danny Trejo

The Machete actor had a small role as a rancor trainer in the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett. His second cousin Robert Rodriguez, who also helmed Machete and sequel Machete Kills, directed Trejo's episode.