The Star Wars franchise has long been filled with iconic characters brought to life fairly conventionally, although there are several examples of a single actor per character not being sufficient. For various reasons, George Lucas and his successors in the Disney era have called upon two or more actors at once to portray the same character at the same time. For years, I never used to understand why this was such a commonplace casting decision in the Star Wars universe. Now, I fully appreciate the technique.
Perhaps a little more so than in other franchises, Star Wars has a tendency to introduce masked characters. This opens up the opportunity for a character’s physical actor to differ from the actor who voices that hero and/or villain. It’s something that’s been going on within the saga since 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which served as the space opera’s inaugural effort almost 50 years ago. Although the initial logic tended to be about an actor’s voice not quite fitting with their masked character’s design, that isn’t the only reason why it can be such a challenge working in the Star Wars casting department. As the decades have ticked by, more unique and modern explanations have started to arise.
Before we get started, I wanted to give honorable mentions to two multi-actored Star Wars characters. The first is Obi-Wan Kenobi, although I’m not talking about the Ewan McGregor/Alec Guinness combination. They didn’t play Obi-Wan at the same time. Neither did McGregor and James Arnold Taylor, but the latter did such a great impression of the former in The Clone Wars that it certainly felt like it. Secondly, the Ugnaught known as Kuiil in The Mandalorian was played by Misty Rosas on-screen, but voiced by Nick Nolte. You know the character: “I have spoken.” That guy. I liked Kuiil, but I was never as taken with him as so many others seemed to be. Let’s take a look at the real MVPs.
Darth Vader
Darth Vader’s terrifying voice comes from James Earl Jones. However, Jones never played the Sith Lord on-screen. Instead, that job has gone to various actors through the years. In the original trilogy, Vader was physically portrayed by David Prowse. His speaking voice wasn’t deemed intimidating enough for Vader, and so George Lucas brought in Jones to replace Prowse’s dialogue. That being said, in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, that’s not Prowse when Luke (Mark Hamill) unmasks his dying father. That’s Sebastian Shaw. Hayden Christensen has also been in the suit while Jones handled voice duties. Christensen physically portrays Vader in both 2005’s Revenge of the Sith and 2022’s Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries.
Jango Fett’s Clones
Temuera Morrison’s Jango Fett transformed Star Wars when he debuted in 2002’s Attack of the Clones. Suddenly, his face and voice permeated the franchise. Jango’s countless clones were mostly commissioned as soldiers to fight in the war ahead. The most notable exception was Boba Fett, whom Jango raised as his son. Boba was a huge hit when he made his first major appearance in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back.
Boba Fett‘s on-screen debut was in 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special. He was voiced by Gabriel Dell. This is no longer deemed canon, if it ever even was.
Originally, Boba was portrayed physically by Jeremy Bulloch. Jason Wingreen voiced the bounty hunter, though. Then, once Morrison was cast as Jango in the prequels, Lucas and company acknowledged this as they made some alterations to the original trilogy. Because Morrison’s voice had become so synonymous with belonging to Jango or one of his clones, he re-recorded Wingreen’s lines for the remastered editions of the original trilogy. None of this even mentions the fact that Dee Bradly Baker inherited the role of Jango’s biological copies in The Clone Wars and its various animated spin-offs. Even now, Baker remains the voice of Jango’s clones in animation, whereas Morrison returns whenever he’s required in live-action.
Ahsoka Tano
There are still huge numbers of Star Wars fans who think of Ashley Eckstein when they hear the name Ahsoka Tano, and rightfully so. She voiced the beloved Togruta throughout The Clone Wars and then returned for Rebels. In the Disney era, Eckstein is outnumbered. Since Ahsoka’s live-action debut in The Mandalorian, she has been largely played by Rosario Dawson. In Ahsoka Season 1, flashbacks to the Clone Wars saw Ariana Greenblatt step in to play a younger version of the character. Eckstein has returned as Ahsoka since Dawson took over, though. 2022’s Tales of the Jedi on Disney+ featured some Ahsoka-heavy episodes, and because they were animated, Eckstein was brought back to maintain a sense of continuity. I wouldn’t be surprised if this sort of thing happened again.
Chewbacca
Chewbacca’s multi-actor story is somewhat unique. Peter Mayhew is most commonly associated with the role, as he played the Wookiee in all three movies of the original trilogy. Mayhew did return for the sequels, but only appeared in 2015’s The Force Awakens. Due to problems with his knees, Mayhew was limited in what he could do as Chewbacca. The more physically demanding shots brought in Joonas Suotamo. Mayhew then retired from playing Chewbacca entirely, and Suotamo has been the one in the fluffy suit ever since. Wednesday fans will know Suotamo as Lurch.
Suotamo also played Kelnacca, another Wookiee who appeared in The Acolyte.
Where Chewbacca differs as a character, at least from a performance perspective, is that he doesn’t have a traditional voice actor who works with whoever’s in the suit. Instead, Chewie’s grunts and vocalizations are edited together from sounds of several different animals. Sound designer Ben Burtt is credited with this editing work and therefore provided his successors with a solid bedrock to maintain consistency for how Chewie should sound.
Anakin Skywalker
Ignoring his time as Darth Vader and his last-minute redemption in Return of the Jedi, Anakin’s first on-screen appearance was in 1999’s The Phantom Menace. Jake Lloyd played Anakin, the youngest we’ve ever seen the character, but then the time jump leading into Attack of the Clones called for a recast. Christensen then retained the role for the remainder of the trilogy. When the 2008 Clone Wars movie started to flesh out the time between the last two prequel trilogy efforts, Anakin was recast. Matt Lanter stepped in to voice the doomed Jedi and did so until the spin-off show was canceled in 2014.
The Disney era has since disrupted this fairly conventional handing off of the baton from one actor to the next. The Clone Wars was revived for another season in the wake of Disney+’s launch, which meant Lanter returned as Anakin. This invigorated interest in this era of Star Wars. In late October 2022, Lanter voiced Anakin in a Tales of the Jedi episode. Just over a week later, Christensen then reprised his role in live-action, in Ahsoka. It was an incredibly brief window of Lanter and Christensen sharing the role of Anakin Skywalker, but still.
Darth Maul
The Phantom Menace paid homage to the original trilogy in several ways, but one of the most subtle was how Maul was portrayed. Just as Darth Vader was brought to life via two (and eventually three) different actors in the original trilogy, Maul also wasn’t a one-man job. Martial artist Ray Park handled the Zabrak’s on-screen presence, while Peter Serafinowicz provided what little dialogue the character had. Since then, Maul has existed almost entirely in animated projects, and Sam Witwer has fully replaced Serafinowicz. Park, however, did return to provide a motion capture performance for Maul vs. Ahsoka in The Clone Wars Season 7, and also to physically portray Maul for this 2018 Solo cameo.
Luke Skywalker
As the Star Wars franchise’s very first protagonist (if we’re going by release order), replacing Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker is still seen as sacrilege. The problem with that is that Luke was handled incredibly poorly by Rian Johnson in 2017’s The Last Jedi. If Hamill’s character had been given a more rewarding arc and exit, I think Star Wars would probably have never revisited Luke’s timeline. I don’t have a huge problem with Luke’s death in The Last Jedi, but I can completely understand why others were disappointed. David Filoni and company would appear to be among the disgruntled masses.
In December 2022, The Mandalorian Season 2’s finale shocked everyone by tying the Disney+ series into the Skywalker Saga. Hamill did reprise his role as Luke, but not in any kind of traditional way. He was present on set and walked through the scenes, providing a baseline for how Luke would act and move through the space. Body double Max Lloyd-Jones then replicated Hamill’s performance before having his face and voice swapped out with those of a young Mark Hamill. The AI software used to give Young Luke his voice was trained on era-appropriate recordings of Hamill’s dialogue. This technique was then replicated for Luke’s The Book of Boba Fett cameo. I understand the resistance to replacing Hamill, but I do think a full recast would have been a better approach here. AI Luke is very uncanny valley.
Han Solo
There is no question that Harrison Ford still owns the role of Han Solo. Not in the legal sense, but you know what I mean. Still, Alden Ehrenreich’s younger version of the character cannot be ignored. Especially when it comes to when Ehrenreich stepped in to relieve Ford. The original actor appeared in just the first and third sequel trilogy installments. He only played a confusing sort of not-quite-Force-vision of Han in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, but he was still in the movie.
I guess the recasting of Han could also apply to the Lando Calrissian situation. Solo handed the role of Lando to Donald Glover in 2018, only for Billy Dee Williams to take it back in 2019.
Ford’s two respective comebacks as Han bookend Ehrenreich’s time as the sci-fi smuggler. After Han’s on-screen death in 2015, Solo: A Star Wars Story worked well as a flashback/origin story that saw Ehrenreich inherit the role in 2018. Because Solo bombed due to the Disney boycott that was brought about by The Last Jedi‘s poor reception, Star Wars had to pull out the big guns. Ehrenreich never reprised the role, but Ford did briefly return just one year later in The Rise of Skywalker. Just like they drew it up, right?
Din Djarin
Pedro Pascal is the face of The Mandalorian‘s title character, but that position comes with a strange quirk. Although Pascal has always provided Din Djarin’s voice, it’s impossible to tell when it’s actually Pascal in the Beskar armor or if it’s someone else entirely. The character’s face is often completely obscured, meaning others can don the suit when it’s convenient or appropriate for them to do so. It depends on what the scene entails.
For instance, scenes that require slick firearm handling can often call for John Wayne’s grandson, Brendan Wayne, to physically portray Din Djarin. Lateef Crowder is responsible for many of the fight scenes and physically demanding stunt sequences. Barry Lowin is also among the team of actors who have worn the suit. Not only does this ultra-specialized selection process help Din seem like an all-around champ when it comes to combat, but it also suits Pascal’s busy schedule. Star Wars isn’t the actor’s only franchise role, so recording his dialogue remotely doesn’t just help lend a great sense of consistency to the character, but is also less demanding on his time.
What do you think? Did I miss anyone? Let me know in the comments!
