For over four decades, Anthony Daniels has been present for every Star Wars movie, usually as C-3PO (although that wasn’t the case for Solo: A Star Wars Story). So naturally it was expected that he would also be around for Episode IX later this year, and sure enough, Daniels will reprise the trusty and oblivious protocol droid skilled in over six million forms of communication for the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. Or rather, he did, as Daniels is done filming his portions of Episode IX, commemorating the momentous occasion with the following:
The droid built for human-cyborg relations has finished his time on Star Wars: Episode IX (principal photography began last August), and as Anthony Daniels told his Twitter followers, it’s a bittersweet occasion. Still, clearly Daniels had a delightful time participating in the latest Star Wars movie and is looking forward to the masses seeing the final product come this December. Needless to say that it would have been weird if Daniels had not present for Episode IX considering how important C-3PO has been to the Star Wars franchise in its long history.
The last time we saw C-3PO on the big screen was in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, where he was among the few members of The Resistance who managed to escape being slaughtered by The First Order. Other than offering his usual brand of “helpful” commentary and chatting with R2-D2 and/or BB-8, it’s hard to say what’s in store for C-3PO in Episode IX, although I’m hoping we don’t see anything as brutal as seeing the goldenrod droid destroyed without any hope of being pieced back together. That could be too dark, which is saying something considering what we’ve seen in the Star Wars movies.
As for if Anthony Daniels will appear in future live action Star Wars projects, that’s hard to say. Although Rian Johnson’s trilogy and the David Benioff and D.B Weiss film series are both in development, not only do we not know when either of these respective spinoff sets of movies will be released, it also hasn’t been revealed when any of these movies will be set. There’s also The Mandalorian TV series for Disney+, although since that’s set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, then it’s plausible that C-3PO could appear in that, even if just for an episode. Or, just like how Anthony Daniels played a slave on Kessel during Solo: A Star Wars Story, he could be brought in to play a different character in one of these projects.
Star Wars: Episode IX opens in theaters on December 20, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. Be sure to also look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what other movies are coming out this year.
