Taron Egerton has been in the news lately after revealing that he passed on playing Cyclops in the X-Men prequels. But there is another major franchise Egerton turned down in the past - Star Wars, and the part was none other than that of Han Solo in the 2018 prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Egerton was among the frontrunners to play the charismatic intergalactic smuggler in Solo alongside Jack Reynor, Jack O’Connell, and Alden Ehrenreich, who ultimately bagged the role. While Egerton didn’t exactly reject the part outright, he did remove himself from the race after a few rounds of auditions. Egerton sat down with Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast recently, and when asked if it was true that he declined the Cyclops and Han Solo roles, Egerton said:
"Yeah, I mean it’s hard… I feel like there’s like an unspoken thing in Hollywood where… it feels almost taboo to talk about the conversations you’ve had that never come to a reality. But I don’t care about that. No, I did. I did remove myself from both of those races. I did, yeah."
Egerton further revealed that he tested in full costume alongside Chewbacca on the Millenium Falcon and, even though he’s a big fan of Star Wars, the project didn’t exactly scream excitement for him, at least not to the same degree as some of his earlier movies, like Kingsman: The Secret Service.
"I felt like that… I felt that– I mean, I’ll be honest, I got on the Falcon. I was with Chewie. I was in the full costume… and I… you know what, that’s what I felt like. I felt like I got there, I did it, I lived it. And there was one more… there was another round that I decided not to do. And it’s far enough in the past now that I feel like I can say that. I hope no one feels annoyed that I have said it. But it just felt to me like I didn’t feel… like you know when we mentioned earlier that thing when I read the Kingsman script and I was like, ‘This is– I’ve gotta do this. This is my part.’ I just didn’t feel it."
Taron Egerton Is The Leading Contender To Play Wolverine In The MCU
While Taron Egerton may have missed out on joining two huge franchises, the 32-year-old British star doesn’t regret a thing. Egerton has made a name for himself as a leading man in Hollywood, and his versatility as an actor is truly something to behold. From playing a psychotic gangster in Legend to portraying Sir Elton John in Rocketman, Egerton certainly has range. He is also an accomplished voice actor, with starring roles in Sing and Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Egerton is also a favorite to succeed Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though he has denied rumors that he’s in talks with the studio. Egerton is currently busy with Apple’s Tetris movie and Kingsman 3, which will conclude the franchise, so even if there is some truth to the reports, we’ll have to wait a couple of years to see his portrayal of Wolverine.
Egerton currently stars in Apple’s riveting prison thriller Black Bird alongside Paul Walter Hauser. The series also features the late Ray Liotta in one of his last acting roles, so be sure to check it out.