30 iconic Star Wars roles that almost went to different actors

19. Kylo Ren (Eddie Redmayne)

When you think about Kylo Ren, there is simply no one who could have embodied the internal and external conflict of Ben Solo in the way that Adam Driver did. But there are plenty of actors who auditioned for the role that would have given an entirely different style and tone to the tragic villain.

In 2016, during an interview with Uproxx, Eddie Redmayne revealed that he had also auditioned for the role of Kylo Ren. This often-quoted interview also revealed a little about the audition process for the character, fascinating fans with the fact that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was apparently used for the reading. And, per Redmayne, the audition went “catastrophically bad.”

He went on to say, “With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.” If you’ve seen Redmayne’s role in Jupiter Ascending, one can only imagine what kind of voice the actor may have used for the audition.

He continued explaining his Darth Vader-like sounds and wrapped up the recollection with, “And after like 10 shots [the casting director is] like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No.’”

There is allegedly concept art related to Redmayne’s audition.