C-3PO Actor Anthony Daniels Confirms Character Will Live On Past Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

John F. Trent |

Nov 5, 2019

C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels confirmed that his character will survive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

In an interview with the RadioTimes about his new book, I am C-3PO, Daniels details that he believes he won’t be the last actor to play C-3PO.

“Yes, I quite countenance that. There are people wandering around Disney theme parks, dressed in rather better suits than mine. They seem to move a lot more easily.”

He continued:

“I absolutely admit and accept that. And quite right: he is too good of a character, too big of a character, to die with me. And Disney paid a lot of money for him! You know what I mean? They’ve got to get their money back somehow.”

Daniels statement echoes the words from his book where he hopes that C-3PO will be able to live on without him. He writes:

“I surely recognize, I will someday leave the stage. I hope I will do so in the knowledge that I have imbued See-Threepio with enough life that, with the love of the fans, he will go on without me.”

If Daniels is replaced by another actor sometime in the future, he would not be the only Star Wars character to be played by multiple actors. Ewan McGregor famously portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogies after Alec Guinness played the wizened Jedi in the prequel trilogies.

More recently, Joonas Suotamo took over the role of Chewbacca from Peter Mayhew. It’s also not out of the realm of possibility for C-3PO to be voice acted in the future, Daniels provided voice work for the character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels as well as a number of Lego Star Wars story.

But they could also use a voice actor for a live-action film in the vein of Rogue One. Rogue One saw Star Wars bring to life Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin and Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia.

The C-3PO actor would also detail the importance of C-3PO to the Star Wars films, “He’s the breadcrumbs, that help you recognise, as you follow the path, that this is a Star Wars path.” He continued, “And that was George Lucas’ original intention.”

Daniels added:

“R2 and 3PO would be ‘the common man’. Using ‘the common man’ as a trope in a piece of literature is not a new thing, that you are given a hero or something you recognise, to hold your hand, if you will, through the story. And how lucky it is that I got that part.”

C-3PO is expected to take on a bigger role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker compared to his roles in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. At Disney’s D23 Expo Daniels stated:

“I’m front and center in this one for a lot of it. That made me feel very happy and very excited. Because the stuff we do is magic. The inventiveness superb. And so for me and for 3PO this is a very good bye-bye moment. Enjoy.”

His character was also the topic of discussion as the teaser trailer showed C-3PO with glowing red eyes. Daniels described the scene as a “magnificent piece of storytelling that really took me by surprise.”

What do you make of Daniels’ comments? Do you think a new actor will take up the role of C-3PO sometime in the future? What do you think the future holds for C-3PO?