Tom Holland almost found himself starring in another franchise with Disney power behind it before landing the role of Spider-Man. The actor revealed during a recent interview while promoting his upcoming film Cherry that he got pretty deep into the audition process to play Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The role would eventually go to John Boyega.
Holland explains in the interview that he got pretty far in the audition process for the role but things didn't go all that well during one of the auditions. Here is what Holland had to say about the process:
"I've had quite a few. I've read the wrong lines at the wrong audition before. I remember my audition for Star Wars, I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega's role. I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, 'We gotta get back to the ship!' And she was going, 'Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.' I just couldn't stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they're called. Yeah, I obviously didn't get the part. That wasn't my best moment."
John Boyega would go on to play Finn, aka FN-187, in the film but it's interesting to think about how different things might have been if Holland landed the role. In this scenario, we most likely would've had a different Spider-Man since Holland's potential schedule with Star Wars would've prevented him from taking on a huge commitment with Marvel.
The casting would've brought him together with a future co-star much sooner as well. Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the Star Wars sequels, co-stars with Holland in the upcoming Chaos Walking. The duo leads the film which has seen several delays leading up to its release but it will finally hit theaters this year on March 5, 2021.
Things worked out as they should have in the end. At this point, I can't really see anyone else as Finn other than John Boyega, and Holland is in his rightful place as arguably the best live-action Spider-Man to date. Star Wars ended up being John Boyega's big break while Holland got his with Spider-Man which means there were enough big franchises to go around for both actors.
Do YOU think Tom Holland would've been good as Finn in the Star Wars sequels? Was John Boyega ultimately the right person for the role?