Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker gave Anthony Daniels ample opportunity to shine as everyone’s favorite protocol droid, but according to the actor, J.J. Abrams ended up removing many of his scenes from the theatrical cut.
The last movie in the Skywalker Saga, for all its shortcomings, actually served as a powerful love letter to many Legacy characters in the world of that galaxy far, far away. Of course, one could argue that there weren’t many of them left at that point, but the writers nevertheless managed to include them in the plot in a meaningful way. For instance, despite the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher in 2016, Abrams still wrote Leia in a way that proved integral to the last installment, in the sense that she not only helped Rey finish her Jedi training, but also redeemed Ben Solo by calling to him through the Force and giving up her life in the process.
Threepio was another one of the OT characters who got sidelined because of the dense narrative of Disney’s Sequel Trilogy. As such, the writers decided to do him justice and feature him alongside the gang of Resistance heroes through the movie. Anthony Daniels has said in a recent interview that he appreciated this extra effort, too, noting:
“I just was so thrilled that J.J. and Chris Terrio finally came up with something worthwhile, and including that crazy thing, ‘I am not permitted to translate a Sith artifact.’ What a wonderful reversal.”
The actor also revealed though that some of his scenes were cut from the final version, and while that was difficult to take in, Daniels believes it was probably for the best.
“You also have to realize that there’s an awfully lot of editing after you’ve finished filming, so C-3PO’s role was even sweeter and broader than that,” He continued. “But some of those niceties have to go because there’s so much in that film already, it’s almost two films in one, as you know,” he said. “So I was a little sad about that, particularly his relationship with Poe, played by the wonderful Oscar Isaac. That was just so sweet and so funny, because Poe was always kind of irritated by C-3PO, but in a nice way. And working with Oscar, I just would giggle through scenes with him because he’s just so sweet and natural.”
He also mentioned that C-3PO’s apparent last words in the memory wipe scene really “moved” him, and was quite emotional to film.
What do you think about Threepio’s role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, though? And would he have benefited from more screentime? Sound off in the usual place below.
