Fassbender Could've Been In 'Force Awakens'

There's no denying that Michael Fassbender has serious star potential, but did you know he almost took his talents to a galaxy far, far away? Yes, in a recent episode of MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast Fassbender revealed that he was considered for Star Wars: Force Awakens in the early aughts of casting. "We talked about a role," Fassbender said of director J.J. Abrams. "We had a conversation. I’m pretty sure I was busy doing something else in the summer he was kickstarting that." Hmmmm, how vague. It makes the mind boggle about what role Fassbender could've played in Force Awakens.

If you want to start speculating, it's fair to say that Fassbender has enough rogue-ish dreaminess to nail down X-Wing pilot/total babe Poe Dameron. Instead, the role eventually went to Fassbender's X-Men Apocalypse co-star Oscar Isaac, who really broke into full-force fame these past two years. Given Force Awakens' penchant for putting fresh faces at the forefront (see: Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn), would Fassbender have been a bit too high-profile to complete that trifecta? It's something to consider, although that's definitely not the only character Fassbender could've made his own.

When it comes to Fassbender's franchise résumé, though, he definitely has credentials playing with the dark side. The X-Men films have seen him bend some serious metal as the amoral-at-best Magneto, which makes us feel like he could channel that anger into one of Force One's baddies. The obvious pick there would be the unhinged Kylo Ren, a role that ultimately went to Adam Driver and Star Wars' Next Gen primary antagonist. But the timing seems off; Fassbender is rounding a corner on 40, and since the series is set approximately 30 years after the Return of the Jedi, he seems just a little bit old to play the Vader-obsessed character. Hell, considering all the goth teen temper tantrums Kylo pulls, Fassbender would seem way too old for the role.

If I had to put money on a Force Awakens major player, though, I would go for General Hux. He could make for a sort of cold, cruel, second-in-command for Supreme Leader Snoke (Kylo, I suppose, is the first), and we know he can wear a uniform well.

It's a damn shame the world will never know where Fassbender would've fit into that particular universe (unless he wants to come clean with that info anytime soon). But hey, we still have two (thousand?) more movies to go... maybe the stars will align and Fassbender will find time in his schedule to party with the Jedi.