Tom Hardy’s Cameo In Star Wars: The Last Jedi Was Cut For Being Too Funny

While The Last Jedi was a divisive movie that tore through the ranks of Star Wars fans, Rian Johnson’s middle act in the Sequel Trilogy still had its moments.

Episode VIII is one of the most controversial films in history, not just for making a number of decisions that pissed off half of the fandom, but also for developments that, in the service of subverting the expectations of the audience, essentially went against what Abrams set up in The Force Awakens. As such, The Last Jedi remains a topic of controversy and debate to this day, and The Rise of Skywalker proving to be as equally divisive, if not more, doesn’t help alleviate the bad reputation that the Mouse House has managed to garner with these movies.

In all earnestness, though, The Last Jedi still had many subtle and memorable moments, and we’d go so far as to suggest that some of them were even comedy gold. Namely, the folks at ScreenRant recently discussed the deleted sequence that saw Finn, Rose and DJ get in a First Order elevator with a stormtrooper who was played by Tom Hardy, which was apparently so funny it felt out of place, compelling the director to remove it from the theatrical version.

During this tense encounter, the stormtrooper suddenly recognizes Finn and congratulates his promotion from a janitor to an officer. What’s even more hilarious is the fact that Tom Hardy speaks with a Southern drawl and then hits Finn on the back. Apparently, Johnson thought that this kind of levity would compromise the Supremacy infiltration subplot, which is why he ultimately decided to cut it out.

It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see the actor’s cameo in the movie itself, but fans can still check out the deleted scene on Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s home release.