Star Trek film series actor Karl Urban revealed he had a hidden cameo in Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. During an interview with Digital Spy, Urban reflected on his experience working on Episode 9 and how he landed the secret role.
The Star Wars sequel trilogy has featured a number of notable performers or industry creatives in small roles. Earlier this summer, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story score composer Michael Giacchino revealed he appeared as a Sith Trooper in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker through a social media post that showed himself donning red armor alongside director J.J. Abrams. Now, Karl Urban has revealed that he was also one of the actors tasked with portraying a stormtrooper and even recorded a line of dialogue for the final chapter of the main Star Wars saga.
The end credits for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker list Urban's name under the "additional voices" section and the actor confirmed that he was, indeed, brought on board the project after paying a visit to the set of the film. "I had the good fortune to go and visit J. J. Abrams [the film's director] while he was shooting The Rise of Skywalker. While I was there, he put me in a stormtrooper uniform and we had a really fun day on set. It's been one of my life-long goals to be a stormtrooper, so I can tick that off now," he explained.
Urban's cameo occurs during the sequence in which Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren march down the halls of a First Order spaceship, shortly after the Supreme Leader repaired his shattered helmet. "What is in the cut is my voice saying 'Knights of Ren' as Kylo Ren walks down a hallway past two stormtroopers. I am one of those stormtroopers," Karl Urban revealed.
In addition to his role as Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy in the rebooted Star Trek films, Urban is known for his appearances in high-profile genre projects such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dredd, and Amazon's hit superhero series The Boys, which will begin its second season in September 2019. So, many fans of Urban's previous work would likely be thrilled to see the actor join the Star Wars franchise, even if his role may simply be a brief cameo. Other actors who made small but noteworthy appearances in The Rise of Skywalker, include Hamilton writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda as a resistance fighter, singer Ed Sheeran as a stormtrooper, and fellow Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan in the role of a resistance fighter.
Of course, others might feel that Urban's talent is being squandered considering his wealth of experience in the science-fiction genre. Fortunately, Disney and Lucasfilm are developing multiple new Star Wars projects, including additional seasons of The Mandalorian, that could open a wide range of roles for Urban or others in the future. Nonetheless, Urban will be fully in the spotlight when his character from The Boys, Billy Butcher, becomes the focus of a short film slated to be released during the middle of the show's second season.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available on Disney+.
Source: Digital Spy