A Fast & Furious Star Nearly Played Anakin Skywalker In The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

In April 2025, Lucasfilm re-released "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" in movie theaters in honor of the film's 20th anniversary. Although the initial fan response to George Lucas' prequel trilogy was mixed at best and toxic at worst, time has been kinder to those movies, mainly due to the expansive canon material such as the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which helped enrich that era with deeper storytelling and character development. As a result, audiences in 2025 flocked to revisit "Revenge of the Sith" and the tragic fall of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), a noble Jedi who gets radicalized by Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), and transforms into his new apprentice, Darth Vader (who's voiced by James Earl Jones).

Young Anakin Skywalker was first portrayed by Jake Lloyd in 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace." Its follow-up, 2002's "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," then proceeded to jump 10 years ahead in the "Star Wars" timeline. However, before Lucas settled on Christensen to carry on as the man who would become arguably the greatest villain in cinematic history, many other actors were considered and/or auditioned for the role. Interestingly, their ranks include a fellow who shares young Anakin's passion for racing. Indeed, said actor would eventually become known worldwide for his role in a franchise rooted in street racing culture.

"Attack of the Clones" introduced audiences to a 19-year-old Anakin, who had spent the last decade training as the Padawan apprentice to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Given that George Lucas opted to jump forward in time, rather than to continue with Jake Lloyd, the search for an adult actor to play grown-up Anakin commenced. Many actors were in contention for the role, with stars as big as Leonardo DiCaprio considered. Be that as it may, Paul Walker may be one of the most intriguing candidates who auditioned to play the father of Luke and Leia Skywalker.

According to a February 2000 report from Entertainment Weekly, numerous websites were placing Paul Walker very high on Lucas' list of contenders for the role of Anakin. However, EW poured some Hoth-chilled water over that Mustafar-ignited campfire of a rumor, claiming that the 26-year-old Walker was considered too old to portray the 19-year-old Sith-to-be, as he needed to appear younger than Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala. (Recall that Portman was 19 at the time of principal photography on "Attack of the Clones," while Padmé is 25 in the film.) 

Naturally disappointed he missed out on what could have been the role of a lifetime, Walker eventually shared his feelings on getting passed over in an interview with Teen Movieline (via Time):

"I was really bummed out that I didn't get the part of Anakin.But there were rumors circulating, so I don't know how close I came to actually getting it. Josh Jackson was apparently in talks to play Anakin, too. You can't say anything, but a part of me was thinking ... 'You'd better not get it over me!' At the same time, you'd be happy if he does get it rather than Hayden Christensen, some no-namer from Canada."

Production on "Attack of the Clones" took place roughly over the summer of 2000. Elsewhere, right around the same time, Paul Walker was filming "The Fast and the Furious," having been cast as the film's protagonist, Brian O'Conner, a Los Angeles police officer assigned to infiltrate a crew of the city's street racers led by the eccentric Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Although, at the time, Walker likely would have preferred to be filming the next "Star Wars" movie under the direction of George Lucas, little did he know that he was on his way to headlining the first entry in what would become one of the biggest franchises in Universal Pictures' history, as well as one of the most valuable blockbuster film series of the 21st century.

Despite missing out on a role in a galaxy far, far away, Walker still became part of cinematic history himself (though one with a tragic ending). He would go on to reprise his role as Brian O'Conner in the "Fast" sequels, all of which are indicative of the most ridiculous titles in blockbuster history: "2 Fast 2 Furious," "Fast & Furious," "Fast Five," "Fast & Furious 6," and "Furious 7." Unfortunately, during the production of "Furious 7," Walker died in a vehicular accident. He had not completed his work on the film either, so his brothers Cody and Caleb stepped in to help finish things. "Furious 7," in turn, honors Walker's legacy in the franchise by ending with a highly emotional closing sequence and a send-off for the Brian character, complete with a montage featuring Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's chart-topper, "See You Again."