Anthony Daniels On C-3PO’s 42 Year STAR WARS Journey

Anthony Daniels is unique among all the actors who have appeared in the Star Wars series. As the protocol droid C-3PO, he’s been the only one to appear in all nine films of the Skywalker Saga. Not to mention, he provided the voice of C-3PO in the Clone Wars animated film, made a cameo as the golden droid in for a scene in Rogue One, and appeared in a human role in Solo. No one is more perfectly suited to tell the story of the entire 42 year journey from A New Hope to The Rise of Skywalker better than Anthony Daniels.

Now, as The Rise of Skywalker hits digital, Daniels shares with us some of his thoughts at being there when this all began, and what it was like to close the book on the series that became the most legendary in cinema history.

Daniels has actually said goodbye to the big screen version of Star Wars a record three times already First, when Return of the Jedi wrapped back in the early ’80s. Then decades later, when Revenge of the Sith finished production. George Lucas even gave Daniels the last spoken word dialogue in Episode III, since Threepio said the first lines in A New Hope (“Did you hear that?? We’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!”) He felt it would be a poetic. But as we all know, there was still one more trilogy in the cards for Daniels.

Anthony Daniels Discusses C-3PO's 42 Year STAR WARS Journey_1

Lucasfilm

Sadly, they missed the opportunity to have Threepio deliver the last line one more time. I could have imagined him standing next to Rey in the finale saying “Rey Skywalker. I think Master Luke would be proud.” Or words to that effect. And then cut to credits and a soaring John Williams score. But the past is the past. And at least Threepio got to play an important part in the plot of Episode IX. Not to mention, he sported some extra cool Sith-red eyes too, at least for one scene. Although this is the end of the Skywalker films, here’s hoping that between more animated series and Star Tours, it’s not the last we’ve seen of Anthony Daniels playing the galaxy’s most panicked droid.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now available digitally, and hits Blu-ray and 4K Ultra on March 31st.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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