Update: We were informed by Attila Vajda that he actually portrays the wookie Sagwa inSolo, and that Anthony Daniels is playing the Wookie’s human friend Tak. Jon Kasdan’s original interview as taken out of context.
Original Story: Last week, Mark Hamill revealed thatAnthony Danielsis inSolo, leading everybody to believe that C-3PO was going to be in the movie. And why wouldn’t everybody believe that? Daniels has played the golden droid in everyStar Warsmovie thus far, as well as other related projects. However,Solois a different story and instead features Anthony Daniels as Chewbacca’s ugly best friend named Sagwa.
After seeing some promotional footage ofSoloit was easy to spot another Wookiee in a brief, blink-and-you-miss-it scene. ManyStar Warsfans speculated that it wasChewie’s wife Mallasince the two Wookiees were seen embracing. However, Ron Howard recently revealed that the new Wookiee in question is not Malla, which is a good thing, because this thing is freaking ugly.Soloscreenwriters Lawrence and Jon Kasdan have revealed that his name is Sagwa and describe him as “a bit of a stoner” and “like Bill & Ted.” That doesn’t really explain his looks though, unless he’s a bit of a lazy, unkept stoner.
Jon Kasdan went into a little bit more detail describing the uglyWookieeinSolo: A Star Wars Story, but not talking about his looks. Anthony Daniels' Sagwa character is very helpful to Han Solo and Chewie, despite his appearance. As it turns out, Sagwa tries to get them on to another ship during a huge battle sequence. Kasdan had this to say about the new ugly Wookiee.
“In the Papillon type offshoot story, the Wookiee that helps them escape, Chewbacca’s best friend, is played by Anthony Daniels, and beckons him to join them as they escape on a different ship.”
As manyStar Warsfans know, Anthony Daniels has playedC-3POin every major movie in the franchise. When asked about why 3PO wasn’t inSolo, Jon Kasdan simply said, “There are a lot of things about this movie that are different from all the others.” That might be true, but that’s a pretty bold move to break fromStar Warstradition like that, especially when Daniels is portraying one of the strangest looking things that Lucasfilm has ever put on the big screen, which is really saying something. There’s been a lot of tweaked creatures in theStar Warsuniverse, but none quite like Sagwa.
Even though Anthony Daniels isn’t playing C-3PO inSolo, the movie is still getting a lot of good press from the first reactions. Critics and the lucky fans who have seen the spin-off movie have all praised the performance of Alden Ehrenreich, with the original Han Solo, Harrison Ford, even giving Ehrenreich his seal of approval, calling what the young actor did “spectacular.” That Ford said anything about the movie at all is pretty amazing, but it’s getting harder to figure why he didn’t mention Sagwa the ugly Wookiee. you’re able to read more about Anthony Daniels ditching the gold costume to play Sagwa over atUproxx.
