What are the best Star Wars cameos? A famous face is never far away in the galaxy, from Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in the original trilogy, to modern stars like Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, but there’s sometimes people hiding in the background too.
Through-out the Star Wars movies and TV series, the Star Wars cast has been a certifiable trough of talent over the years and the franchise itself is one of the most desirable to be a part of, even if it means taking a tiny role that no one even knows about. Until now, that is!
That’s right, we’re here to uncover the best Star Wars cameos you may have missed. Most of them have occurred since Disney took over the Star Wars series, which makes sense given how the studio loves to sneak an Easter egg or a random Glup Shitto into its projects. Unfortunately, there are no Star Wars droids on the list. We’re sad about that too.
Star Wars cameos you may have missed:
- Daniel Craig as Stormtrooper FN-1824
- Simon Pegg as Unkar Plutt
- John Williams as Oma Tres
- Tom Hardy as a Stormtrooper
- Sofia Coppola as Saché
Daniel Craig as Stormtrooper FN-1824 in The Force Awakens
Believe it or not, none other than James Bond himself is part of the very moment when the Star Wars character Rey discovers she can use the Force to manipulate those around her.
With Rey trapped in Kylo Ren’s torture chamber, she tells the Stormtrooper guarding her to release her and give her his weapon. “I’ll tighten those restraints, scavenger scum,” the Galactic Empire‘s Stormtrooper replies, but Rey soon gets her way.
That Stormtrooper is Daniel Craig, who was actually shooting a James Bond movie at the same time as production was rolling on The Force Awakens. Craig half-jokingly asked a producer to put in a good word, and the rest is history.
Craig never expected dialogue or anything in his Star Wars scene, and in an interview with Daily Express the actor said: “I wanted to be that guy that bumps his head in the original one, you know that person who drops his lightsaber or something.”
Simon Pegg as Unkar Plutt in The Force Awakens
A well-known super-geek, Simon Pegg has been a part of the Star Trek franchise already so he figured he may as well get involved in the other side of the intergalactic fandom too.
You wouldn’t recognise him though. A far cry from the face we see in comedy movies about zombies and murderous villagers, Pegg was layered up in an incredible disguise as the alien scrap trader Unkar Plutt on Jakku.
Pegg has spoken about his own relationship with Star Wars and the toxic fandom, admitting he used to be part of the problem after criticising the 2000s movie The Phantom Menace in his comedy series Spaced. He learned to get away from that though and appreciate the good and the bad of Star Wars.
John Williams as Oma Tres in The Rise of Skywalker
Without the music of John Williams Star Wars would arguably not be the behemoth of popular culture it is today. The legendary composer brought the space-age adventure movies to life with his beautiful and thrilling soundscapes through the years, but he couldn’t help himself when he got the chance to be on screen.
The final instalment of the Skywalker saga saw Williams take on a tiny role as Oma Tres, a bartender on the planet Kijimi in The Rise of Skywalker. It’s just a shame he waited until the worst Star Wars movie to make his little cameo.
Tom Hardy as a Stormtrooper in The Last Jedi
It’s nice and easy to hide A-List superstars in your movie when you have a whole army of Stormtroopers they can play, isn’t it? Tom Hardy, renowned for his work as Batman villain Bane, the action movie Mad Max Fury Road, and the Peaky Blinders series, managed to sneak himself into the background of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi.
Well, sort of. You’d have to watch the deleted scenes of the film to see his small part. In the scene, Finn (John Boyega) travels in an elevator disguised as a First Order Officer, but becomes nervous when a group of Stormtroopers join him.
One of those Stormtroopers is Tom Hardy, who even puts on a Southern drawl as he says, “I know who you are… FN 2187! Damn boy, I never took you for officer material.” Seemingly, Hardy’s Stormtrooper must have known Finn back in the day, but was unaware of his treachery in joining the Resistance. He’s lucky it wasn’t a Death trooper who spotted him, mind.
Sofia Coppola as Saché in The Phantom Menace
We’re going all the way back to a time before Sheev became Emperor Palpatine, and before the Star Wars films became Disney Plus movies for endless consumption here, as we spot a young Sofia Coppola in the background of a scene in The Phantom Menace.
Coppola, the daughter of legendary director Francis Ford, and an acclaimed filmmaker herself, played one of Queen Amidala’s handmaiden’s called Saché. George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola are long-time friends, so it’s no surprise Sofia bagged a cameo here.
The ‘90s movie has lots of famous faces, such as Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Kiera Knightley, and Samuel L Jackson, but you’d be forgiven for missing Coppola’s appearance.
There’s plenty more little cameos throughout the Star Wars galaxy, but that’s your lot for now. If you want to find out more about Star Wars, here are our guides to the Andor season 2 release date, the Rebellion explained, the Jedi explained and the Sith explained. Check out our new movies guide, too.