The NBA season is underway, and an upcoming Star Wars project is near as well. While we wait for the arrival of the TV show Skeleton Crew amid the 2024 TV schedule, readers might be interested to know that Hayden Christensen and other SW vets recently rubbed shoulders with one of the elite players in professional basketball. The star in question is young player Victor Wembanyama, who is a massive fan of the franchise. And, after seeing them link up, I'd love to see Wembanyama appear in the galaxy far, far away.
For anyone who's more so up on science fiction and less on sports, Victor Wembanyama is the same player whose security detail stopped Britney Spears from approaching him. Those who follow the NBA may not even know that he's a huge fan of the prequel movies, and had a chance to make his dream come true, thanks to the stars aligning.
How Victor Wembanyama Met The Star Wars Actors
A picture posted by @_TheFailedJedi on X (via @Wemby_Muse) showed "Wemby" with not just Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, but also Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano). Before anyone starts speculating about plans for Ahsoka Season 2, I should note there's a reason for this.
As reported by KENS5, Spacecon 2024 recently took place in San Antonio. It was there that the three actors were guests of the convention. Seeing as Victor Wembanyama is the star of the San Antonio Spurs, it was likely easy to arrange for him to meet the trio, even with the NBA season going on. What might be harder, however, would be getting him into a Star Wars production, but I still think it would be worth the trouble.
Why Victor Wembanyama Would Be Great For Star Wars
I'm always a fan of surprising athlete cameos in movies, but there's a specific reason why Victor Wembanyama lends himself to Star Wars in a way even other basketball players couldn't. He stands at seven feet, four inches tall, and has a wingspan of eight feet. So he's not only incredibly tall, but his arms are also incredibly long.
His physique has likened comparisons to the creepy character Slenderman, who the France native actually dressed as last Halloween. Take a look:
Star Wars is a franchise with tons of different species and aliens of different shapes and sizes. Surely, there's room for him to appear as one of them. I'd say maybe cast him as a young Jedi but, given how The Acolyte and other shows have been about the brutal murder of those Force-users, I'm not sure he'd want that role. (Though I could be wrong in that assumption.)
He could be the tallest Wookiee to ever appear in Star Wars, which would be fitting given his recent custom Nike shoes themed after the franchise. These just have to be seen to be believed, so without further comment, check out the "Wookiee of the Year":
I should also note that Star Wars has used professional basketball players before to play Wookiees in the universe. Joonas Suotomo, who ultimately took over the role of Chewbacca for Peter Mayhew, was on the Finnish national basketball team. It's also been noted several times over the years that Lucasfilm hired several Australian basketball players to portray Wookiees when they were filming for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (via @NBL).
All in all, I'm just saying that the opportunity could be there for Victor Wembanyama if he can talk to the right people. Whether he spoke to Hayden Christensen and co. about that during their meet-up is unclear. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that something can be worked out.
Catch the premiere of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew using a Disney+ subscription when it premieres on December 3. I wouldn't expect Victor Wembanyama to be a part of the fun, but I hope we see him appear in the franchise down the way!
