The folks at Lucasfilm have a slew of films in store for us in the coming years, from this December’s first stand-alone Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which led to the six-season series of the same name.
Speaking of animation, we also have Star Wars Rebels, which premieres on September 24. And while there hasn’t been any public talk of bringing the live-action film world together with the animated world, we think it would be awesome. That led us to wonder which actors would be perfect for roles in live-action Rebels or Clone Wars movies. Our only rule here is we’re not casting actors who have already played the roles in live-action, like Natalie Portman as Pe Amidala.
Get ready for our cast of big names and lesser-knowns, as we wonder: What if Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars Were Live Action?
19. KAREN GILLAN AS ASAJJ VENTRESS
Asajj Ventress is a Clone Wars-only character, having never appeared in a Star Wars live-action film. But she’s a juicy villain who would surely pop in a big way on the big screen, an opportunity for a young actress to really dig her teeth into a role, not unlike what we saw from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn this summer in Suicide Squad. Ventress is a lot of things: an independent woman, a pro with a double-lightsaber attack, a side-switcher, a former Jedi Padawan, a witch, and most of all, a badass that's strong with the Force.
We know, Karen Gillan is already playing a somewhat similar character in Nebula in the stand-alone Ventress origin film be?)
18. JON BERNTHAL AS CAPTAIN REX
Captain Rex was just another soldier cloned from the DNA of Jango Fett during the process we saw on Kamino in Attack of the Clones. But he was also so much more, as we saw in The Clone Wars. Though he didn’t officially appear in any of the prequel films, he was a significant character in the animated series from that era, as a trusted clone trooper captain and right-hand man to Anakin Skywalker, who was a Jedi General at the time.
So we’ve never seen him as a live-action character, but we know what he looks like based on helmet-less appearances in The Clone Wars, not to mention his older version in Rebels. And, like we said, he’s cloned from Jango Fett, who, along with Commander Cody and the other clones, was played by Temuera Morrison in the prequels. Morrison is a solid, rugged-looking dude, not the kind of guy you’d want to cross. That’s exactly the reason Jon Bernthal was cast as The Punisher in the Daredevil Netflix series (along with his intense acting abilities). And that’s exactly why we see Bernthal as the perfect Clone Wars-era Rex.
17. JOHN LITHGOW AS MAS AMEDDA
Actor David Bowers hasn’t had a blockbuster-filled career, and hasn’t worked much in recent years, but he did have his moments of glory slapping on blue makeup and horns/tusks as Mas Amedda in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith after Jerome Blake played him in The Phantom Menace. As Chancellor Palpatine’s right-hand man, Bowers utters the immortal line, “This is a crisis!” when trying to convince the Jedi Council that ordering a clone army is the right thing to do. Mas Amedda has a much larger role in the Clone Wars animated series, so we’d need someone who could handle the workload in a live-action version.
Enter beloved character actor John Lithgow. Granted, he’s older at this point, now 70, but he’s still busy and has the height, booming voice and definitely the chops to pull it off. In fact, his age makes him a strong choice as a reliable, knowledgeable and experienced ear for Palpatine to lean on.
16. SYDNEY PARK AS AHSOKA TANO (CLONE WARS-ERA)
Young Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was one of the breakout characters on The Clone Wars, as one of the few major characters that didn’t appear in the prequel trilogy. She was an eager teenage apprentice under Anakin Skywalker, who, like her master, wasn’t afraid to bend the rules if she felt it would serve the greater good. She was ultimately falsely accused of bombing the Jedi Temple hangar, so by the end of the series, she’s got a healthy dose of resentment boiling within, alongside her desire to do what’s right.
We’d love to have someone particularly dynamic for this role, a young actress ready to really show what she’s got and bust out. Amandla Stenberg is the obvious choice, as something of an “it” girl these days, despite very little screen time in recent years. So we’re going to go a little outside the box to Sydney Park. The 18-year-old former star of Nick@Nite’s Instant Mom has the snarky sense of humor for the role, as a comedian herself. Next up for her will be a run on the seventh season of who’s described as optimistic, yet hardened – which could also be said of Ahsoka.
15. JARED HARRIS AS CHANCELLOR PALPATINE
When Scottish character actor Ian McDiarmid took on the role of the evil Emperor for 1983’s Return of the Jedi, he couldn’t have had a clue what was to come for him and that character. He returned for all three prequels as Senator/Chancellor Palpatine, who gradually grew in public power while privately hiding his true motives and identity: the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, hellbent on controlling the galaxy.
McDiarmid was fantastically sinister when he had to be, but also believably kind and forthright in public. We believe Jared Harris is just the actor to pull that off in a Clone Wars live-action flick. You probably know the 55-year-old Brit (same age, incidentally, as McDiarmid in The Phantom Menace) as Lane Pryce in Fringe. It was in the latter role that he displayed the simmering, intelligent evil necessary for Palpatine/Sidious. Plus, he just looks believably like the character.
14. BOKEEM WOODBINE AS MACE WINDU
Back in the ‘90s, after Samuel L. Jackson had broken out in Mace Windu, a Jedi Master and key member of the Jedi High Council, rocking the only purple lightsaber in the galaxy (on film, anyway).
As we all know, Jackson has a huge presence in any film he’s in. He can steal a scene like few others, so that quality will be tough to match. Bokeem Woodbine’s career has followed a similar path to Jackson’s, spending more than two decades as a little-known but busy character actor before finally making a name for himself last year on the FX series With his head shaved, Woodbine looks like the perfect Mace and we know he’s got the chops to pull off the wisdom and intensity of the character.
13. JOHN HANNAH AS COUNT DOOKU
When legendary British actor Christopher Lee first appeared in Attack of the Clones as Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus, he was just the fourth Sith Lord we’d ever seen on the big screen, after Darths Maul, Vader and Sidious. He was a particularly sinister one, too, as a former Jedi turned to the dark side. Lee made a career of playing iconic dastardly villains, from Dracula in a bunch of movies, to Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While Scottish thespian John Hannah doesn’t quite have the evil-portraying pedigree the late Lee had, he’s an amazingly well-rounded actor that we can’t help but think would look great in a dastardly dark cloak, blue eyes peering through, with a nice grey beard. He’s got a naturally mischievous look about him, like he’s a guy you’re not quite sure if you can trust, which is perfect for Dooku, a man famous for switching sides. There are definitely aspects of his performance last season on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Holden Radcliffe that inform our decision here.
12. ODEYA RUSH AS PE AMIDALA
When Natalie Portman took on the role of Pe Amidala in the prequels, she was an 18-year-old clearly on the cusp of big things. Even as a kid in Leon: The Professional and Beautiful Girls, there was denying that she had the "it" factor in spades. So she was the ideal choice for the kid-Queen-turned-Senator from Naboo who would literally give birth to the plot of the original trilogy, as the mother of Luke and Leia.
We’re tapping 19-year-old actress Odeya Rush to be our new Pe. Interestingly, both Portman and Rush were born in Israel, but their similarities don’t end there. They lived part of their early years in America in the New York/New Jersey area, and they definitely share a similar, delicately-featured look, despite the difference in eye color (Portman’s are brown, Rush’s are blue). While Rush doesn’t have the same kind of experience in dramatic fare that Portman had early on, she showed some Amidala potential in last year’s Goosebumps movie.
11. JAMES MCAVOY AS OBI-WAN KENOBI
We’ve had some pretty incredible actors play Obi-Wan Kenobi over the years. First, Sir Alec Guinness played the old-man hermit version (and his ghost) in the original trilogy. He was an Oscar-winning knight, for crying out loud. Then, in the prequels, we had the younger version as played by Ewan McGregor, considerably more spry and with a wry sense of humor – not to mention a believable younger version of Guinness.
So, clearly, James McAvoy would have sarlacc-sized (read: gigantic) shoes to fill if he were to unsheath that blue lightsaber and don the beige and brown robe. But we think he could handle it. After all, he’s already taken the mantle from another knighted actor, Sir Patrick Stewart, to capably play Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise. On top of that, McAvoy has the added advantage of being Scottish, just as McGregor is.
But if there was one actor from the prequel trilogy that expressed interest in returning to the role in recent months. Between McGregor and McAvoy, we could go either way.
10. JOE ALWYN AS ANAKIN SKYWALKER
To put it mildly, the casting of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith was...divisive. At the time of the casting, he was a little-known, 20-year-old Canadian who had acted opposite a scary dummy in the Goosebumps '90s TV series and appeared in The Virgin Suicides. To his credit, he was handed some questionable dialogue and, regardless, he will always be our young Anakin.
But maybe Joe Alwyn could better highlight the subtleties of the character in a Clone Wars live-action movie. The 25-year-old British newcomer is poised to breakout on the big screen in a major way in a few short months as the star of Ang Lee’s highly anticipated the trailer certainly shows the combination of all-American looks with a tortured soul that we’ve come to know from Anakin. Lee has a notoriously good eye for young up and coming talent, so don't be surprised if Alwyn becomes the next big thing in Tinseltown.