Tom Holland Was Supposed To Be Finn In Star Wars?
Tom Holland unsuccessfully auditioned for John Boyega's role in Star Wars.
Although we know him as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, or as the boyfriend of Zendaya, Tom Holland almost starred in a completely different franchise. During an interview with Backstage, Tom Holland revealed that he auditioned for the role of Finn in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. His major flub? The actor couldn’t keep a straight face while reading lines.
Tom Holland recalls his failed audition for Star Wars as not “[his] best moment” and remembers sitting across from a woman who was reading the part of “a drone.” While he was running lines like “‘We gotta get back to the ship!’” the actress was making typical “drone” (we’re thinking he means droid) sounds like, “Bleep, bloop bloop.” The Marvel actor says that he “couldn’t stop laughing” and that he “felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called.”
“I obviously didn’t get the part,” Tom Holland says of his abysmal attempt at joining the Star Wars family. The part of Finn would eventually go to John Boyega, and we’re thinking that even despite Holland’s laugh-out-loud audition, Boyega may have been more suited for the role. The actor not only gave an excellent performance as the First Order Stormtrooper-turned member of the Resistance, but he’s a self-proclaimed Star Wars mega-fan, loving the franchise his entire life.
But, as they say, when one door closes, another one opens, allowing Tom Holland to leave his nightmarish Star Wars audition tale behind, and rise to new career heights as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor would first portray the young Peter Parker in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War after Sony let up on the reins to their rights to all Spider-Man property. The film would obviously open up a floodgate of possibilities for Holland’s web-slinging superhero as, so far, his version of the character has received three solo movies.
He’s also been a major fixture in several other Marvel features including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It’s our guess that Tom Holland isn’t completely kicking himself for his Star Wars snafu as even beyond the MCU his career has spanned several different genres, picking up steam with titles including James Gray’s biographical drama The Lost City of Z, Anthony and Joe Russo’s crime-thriller Cherry, and animated flicks like Spies in Disguise and Onward. Up next for the young actor, he’ll star as one of the biggest names in dance, Fred Astaire, in a yet-to-be-named biopic about the choreographer’s life.
Meanwhile, his personal life has been a major source of internet gossip and tabloid news as he and his Spider-Man co-star Zendaya, took their love off-screen and have become one of the hottest couples in Hollywood. The actress, best known for her heartbreaking and award-worthy performance as Rue Bennett in HBO’s Euphoria, began dating the Uncharted actor back in 2021, with chatter surrounding their entanglement kicking off in 2016. Really, Tom Holland has his bombed Star Wars audition to thank for his relationship with Zendaya as if he was too busy with that franchise, the odds of him being cast as Spidey are pretty low.
One of our favorite hams and plot spoilers, fans of Tom Holland’s work in the MCU are also thrilled that he didn’t end up as Finn in Star Wars. And, at the end of the day, he got some great laughs out of what could’ve been a career-damaging moment.
