For nearly 50 years, Star Wars has been transporting audiences to a galaxy far, far away, building generations of passionate fans. It’s become one of the most successful and popular movie franchises of all time, establishing a multi-billion dollar galactic empire of its own.
Since 1977, the Star Wars series has produced a whopping 11 live-action films with more on the way, plus an endless stream of both live-action and animated TV shows. And that doesn’t even include all the content that was deemed non-canonical once Disney took the reins from Star Wars creator George Lucas.
And yet, despite the franchise’s booming success and iconic status, several Star Wars actors have an issue with the franchise. Some of these performers experienced intense fan hate, which tainted their experience with the series. Others just downright hated their role. Whatever the case, here are 10 Star Wars actors who strongly disliked aspects of the franchise.
10 Jake Lloyd – Young Anakin Skywalker
Jake Lloyd famously portrayed the childhood version of Anakin Skywalker, who would one day grow up to become the villainous Darth Vader. Lloyd appeared in only one Star Wars film: The Phantom Menace, the first entry in Lucas’ polarizing prequel trilogy.
After the premiere, Lloyd became the target of bullying at his school and harassment from the press. This soured his experience with the Star Wars franchise, though Lloyd’s mother claims that he still loves Star Wars and his involvement with it.
9 Kelly Marie Tran – Rose Tico
Poor Kelly Marie Tran. Even though she had never seen a Star Wars film before, Tran was thrilled when she was cast in the polarizing film, The Last Jedi. Her character, Rose Tico, is the first major Asian-American character to appear in what was mostly an all-white franchise, bringing some much-needed diversity to that galaxy far, far away. Rose was an everywoman, a stand-in for the audience – except some of the audience didn’t care very much for Rose.
After The Last Jedi premiered, Tran became the victim of intense racist and sexist online hate and attacks. The harassment caused her to seek therapy and step away from social media. Numerous members of the Star Wars community, including Mark Hamill, came to her defense. Disney, however, ultimately did the opposite by significantly reducing her role in the last film, The Rise of Skywalker.
Despite all the fanboy backlash tainting her experience, Tran remains proud of her involvement in the Star Wars franchise.
8 David Prowse – Darth Vader
Everyone knows that James Earl Jones provided the sinister voice of the iconic Star Wars villain, Darth Vader. But only true fans know that David Prowse was the physical embodiment of the Sith lord, the man behind the mask. A former bodybuilder, Prowse provided the tall and bulky stature that made Vader so terrifying and imposing. Even his movements had a certain edge to them.
Prowse is another cast member who was proud to appear in the Star Wars franchise — and another cast member who had certain issues with it. Prowse had a tense history with Star Wars creator, George Lucas. Prowse apparently leaked that enormous twist at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, angering Lucas.
As the story goes, Lucas had also originally agreed to use Prowse’s face and voice when Vader’s mask was finally removed in Return of the Jedi. When actor Sebastian Shaw was used for this reveal instead, Prowse felt betrayed and sidelined. Fans For one thing, he blatantly admitted to disliking Lucas’ prequel trilogy and found it to be inferior to the original films.
7 Ahmed Best – Jar Jar Binks
It’s hard to tell who received more hate from the Star Wars community: Kelly Marie Tran/Rose or Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is an extra-terrestrial from George Lucas’ prequel trilogy and a divisive character among the Star Wars fanbase. Some enjoy the character and embrace his comedic relief. But most Star Wars fans find him to be annoying, childish, and overly dumb.
Jar Jar was a major supporting character in The Phantom Menace, but his role was reduced significantly when most of the fanbase grabbed their pitchforks and called for Jar Jar’s head.
But it wasn’t just Jar Jar that fans hated. Their hostility was also directed at Ahmed Best, who reportedly put a lot of himself into the character. At one point, the dislike for Jar Jar and himself became so great that Best actually contemplated suicide. This negative reception also slowed the momentum of Best’s rising career.
But in the years since, there’s been a growing appreciation for Jar Jar Binks as the children who grew up with the prequels now head into adulthood, which has helped change Best’s perception and has turned him into a proud member of the Star Wars franchise. In fact, he recently returned to the Star Wars universe as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian.
6 Terence Stamp – Chancellor Valorum
Renowned actor Terence Stamp had a small but important role in The Phantom Menace as Finis Valorum, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. It’s Valorum’s demotion as Chancellor that paves the way for Darth Sidious to obtain power and turn the Republic into an Empire. Stamp was excited to act with Natalie Portman, but on that particular day of filming, Portman was given the day off.
This news frustrated Stamp, whose experience on set worsened due to his poor working relationship with director George Lucas. “We didn’t get on at all,” Stamp told Empire Magazine. “He didn’t interest me, and I wouldn’t think I interested him.” Stamp called his overall experience with Star Wars boring. No wonder why Valorum never popped back up in the other two movies.
5 John Boyega – Finn
John Boyega seemed to land the role of a lifetime when he was cast as one of the main protagonists in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. The up-and-coming actor plays Finn, a stormtrooper who goes rogue and aligns himself with the Resistance. But things didn’t quite pan out the way that Boyega had hoped.
Despite appearing in all three films, his role decreased as the movies went on, becoming less and less important. Big picture ideas for his character seemed to fall by the wayside. Was Finn supposed to be Force sensitive? Was he supposed to have a romance with Rose or with Rey? What was that mysterious secret that he never divulged to Rey?
Since the sequel trilogy’s conclusion, Boyega has been vocal about his disappointment in the direction of the franchise and his character.
He told GQ in an interview, “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good…What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it is a great experience.”
Boyega’s comments imply that he was hired merely for the sake of diversity, that he was cast in a role that was never truly fleshed out — and he’s not wrong. When asked if he’d be interested in returning to the franchise, Boyega expressed minimal interest, remarking, “I’m good off it.”
4 Denis Lawson – Wedge Antilles
Denis Lawson plays Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy. For a supporting character, Antilles is legendary in the world of Star Wars. He’s a notable member of the Rebel Alliance, who participated in more victorious starfighter battles than any other character and was the only Rebel starfighter pilot to survive both Death Star battles.
Obviously, Disney wanted Lawson to reprise his role as Antilles in the first movie of the sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens. But Lawson turned it down, claiming that the role would have “bored” him. That does not sound like an actor who loves Star Wars. But despite this, Lawson was eventually talked into returning for the final movie, The Rise of Skywalker.
3 Harrison Ford – Han Solo
Han Solo is a crucial piece of what we’re calling the original Star Wars trinity. He’s everyone’s favorite stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, Nerf-herder, the bad boy of the Star Wars universe. He’s an iconic character for both the franchise and for actor Harrison Ford, though he certainly isn’t the latter’s favorite.
Ford was reluctant to participate in any Star Wars films beyond the first movie, A New Hope. He also believed that his character should die and kept asking Star Wars creator George Lucas to kill him off.
While promoting Return of the Jedi, Ford told talk show host David Letterman, “Three is enough for me. I was glad to see that costume for the last time.” And yet, Ford would go on to wear his Han Solo costume two more times in Disney’s sequel trilogy. At least this time, though, Ford finally got his deathwish.
2 Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker
It’s impossible to have Star Wars without Mark Hamill. He portrays the legendary Luke Skywalker, the hero who rose from wannabe rebel to powerful Jedi Knight, playing a pivotal role in overthrowing the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy. Luke is a member of what we’re calling the original Star Wars trinity, a necessary and iconic group that consists of Luke, Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford).
Just to be clear — Mark Hamill loves the Star Wars franchise and his involvement with it. There’s just one tiny, not-really-a-big-deal-whatsoever aspect that he wasn’t fond of: Luke’s role in Disney’s sequel trilogy. Hamill was vocal about his disagreement and dissatisfaction with Luke’s character arc in The Last Jedi.
In his mind, it didn’t make sense. The man who believed there was still good in Darth Vader, the most evil dude in the entire universe, got rattled when he sensed the Dark Side in his nephew, Ben Solo (Adam Driver), and was tempted to murder him?
The man who was dying to leave his barren wasteland of a planet in A New Hope and help the galaxy is totally OK with missing all the action, exiling himself to another barren planet, in the sequels? None of it fits.
1 Alec Guinness – Obi-Wan Kenobi
If you’re a Star Wars fan, then you probably knew this one was coming. No actor has been more critical or resentful of his time on Star Wars than Alec Guinness, who played Luke’s first Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Guinness described the movie as “fairy-tale rubbish” in a letter to his friends and only agreed to appear in the film if he didn’t have to do any publicity or promotion afterward.
Despite amassing wealth and an Oscar nomination for the movie, Guinness became unhappy with the constant fan recognition and his ever-growing affiliation with the franchise. It was apparently his idea to kill off Obi-Wan in the first movie — but not because he felt it would be good for the story. “What I didn’t tell Lucas was that I just couldn’t go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines,” he confessed in a 1999 interview.
Despite his hatred of the franchise, Guinness appeared in all three original films and helped to establish Obi-Wan as an iconic character. Stream Star Wars on Disney+
