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There’s a Very Good Reason You Missed This Buzzy Cameo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

2 minute read
By Megan McCluskey

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Some Star Wars fans were puzzled as to why Tom Hardy seemed to be nowhere to be found in The Last Jedi when he was rumored to have a cameo role.

But as it turns out, there’s a good reason even the most eagle-eyed viewer couldn’t spot Hardy in Episode VIII: his scene was cut.

Accotrding to /Film, a sequence in which Hardy, dressed as a Stormtrooper, encounters the incognito Finn, Rose and DJ onboard the Supremacy is part of the 20 minutes of deleted scenes that will be featured on the Blu-ray/DVD version of Last Jedi.

A group of stormtroopers get in the elevator and our heroes are nervous they are going to get caught. One of the stormtroopers slowly turns to Finn and gives him a look. Finn turns around in his Imperial officer uniform and asks him what his problem is. The stormtrooper, played by Hardy with a southern accent, says “I know who you are… FN 2187! Damn boy, I never took you for officer material!” The tension is cut by the reveal that the two grew up together, but the troopers are somehow unaware of FN’s treason. While Finn’s act of desertion is a legend in the Resistance, maybe the First Order hid that information from their army so others might not get the same idea.

Back in January, Hardy had offered a cryptic response to The Hollywood Reporter when grilled about his involvement in the film.

“I don’t know if I can even say that,” he replied when asked about playing a Stormtrooper. “Where did you hear that?…Ah, the internet is a glorious web of deceit and misinformation, isn’t it?”

At least now we know the truth.

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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com