Fri
Sep 16 2011 2:08pm
The Pinewalker Cometh: Cast Star Wars: Heir to the Empire!

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire, a trilogy that kicked off the present era of post-Return of the Jedi adventures, Suvudu is asking you to cast the characters from the book using contemporary actors.

They started out with characters from the series, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Palleon, but are now recasting Han Solo, Leia, Luke, and more! Controversial, yes, but really fun once you move past that. Suvudu gives you a poll of contemporary actors with each role, but you can also write in your own. Visitors have until Wednesday September 21st to cast their votes.

Suvudu’s poll struck up a storm of discussion in the office. Here’s who we picked, write-ins and all.

Grand Admiral Thrawn: Hugo Weaving

This was the first actor we thought of, and it was on the list. Perfect.

Paelleon: Paul Giamatti

We like the idea of Paelleon of being a bit different from the other Imperial officers we’ve seen.

Talon Karrde: Viggo Mortensen

A gruff cad who is ultimately honorable? That has TV’s Aragorn all over it.

Joruss C’Baoth: Sean Connery

Yeah, this one doesn’t quite make sense but Sean Connery is our favorite person, and we bet he’d come out of retirement for Star Wars.

Wedge Antilles: Russell Tovey

You can’t have a big-name leading man play Wedge, there’s already too many stars on this. Adorable and reliable Russell Tovey (Being Human, Doctor Who) would be preferable.

Mara Jade: Milla Jovovich

Milla Jovovich already looks like she’s going to kill us half of the time. She’s dangerous. And their intials are the same. Snap.

Lando Calrissian: Don Cheadle

He’s handsome and funny. And after that Captain Planet video, he can do no wrong.

Han Solo: Robert Downey Jr.

Okay. We know. Everybody says Nathan Fillion. But you know what? He’s already done it. Let’s do a reinterpretation of the character. You don’t want someone aping Han Solo, you want a new one. Downey Jr. can do that.

Leia Organa Solo: Maggie Gyllenhaal

She’s never been bad in a movie and it would be hawt with Downey Jr. So hawt that we wrote the term “hawt” and meant it seriously.

Luke Skywalker: Chris Pine

Yep. That’s right. We went there.

Be sure to cast all your votes at Suvudu.com before Wednesday!


Stubby the Rocket is the voice and mascot of Tor.com. It would eventually like to be recast as either the Enterprise-E or maybe a Battlestar in its prime.

7 comments
Ed R.
1. Ed R.
I always had Gary Oldman in mind for Thrawn.
Chris Hawks
2. SaltManZ
That picture of Chris Pine up top would be just about perfect for Thrawn, IMO. Lose the smile and make him look 10 years older with makeup.
Ed R.
3. tigeraid
Yes, a thousand times yet on Weaving as Thrawn. I will now read his dialogue in his voice.
Matt London
5. MattLondon
This is one of those questions that seems so silly -- worthy of harsh judgment for even entertaining. (Leonardo DiCaprio as Cloud! That sort of thing.) But the last few days it has been infectious. Curse you, Zahn!

Whoever made the Tor list must be a lover of LotR, have a soft spot for Star Trek, and a b@#er for british TV. I can get behind a few of the choices: Cheadle, Weaving, Jovovich, sure why not? But the others -- can't we just keep Fisher, Ford, and Hamill? Assuming Lucas was making this sequel trilogy, I'm sure they would have CG versions of all three, aged circa 1989.

Downey Jr. seems like a stretch for Solo -- why not Talon Kaarde? He fits that role so much better than Mortensen, and doesn't he have identical facial hair to Tony Stark anyway? They could reuse makeup!

Paelleon looks exactly like John Ratzenberger, who already has Star Wars cred and Bren Derlin! Perfecto!

Connery is super retired. He wouldn't come out for Indy 4, he won't come out for this. Based on the art, I wouldn't be surprised if Zahn had Christopher Lee in mind when he wrote C'Baoth. But since he has already been spent as Dooku, I think Malcolm McDowell would be an inspired choice. He has major SF cred (Star Trek: Generations, Wing Commander, etc), and plays the lunatic oh so well. I think C'Baoth is the first clinically insane character in the Star Wars universe.

Luke "Frat Boy" Skywalker? No thanks. Knowing Lucas, he'd probably go with Shia The Beef. I'd cross my fingers for an unknown, or maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Jamie Bell?

Can't we just have Natalie Portman play Leia? Maybe Lucas will digitally insert her as a blue glowy Padme.

No one can play Han Solo. Not Fillion, no one. There is a massive dearth of comedians with action chops in Hollywood today. I'm telling you, age-defying CG on Harisson Ford.

The list leaves off some pivotal characters: Ray Winstone as Niles Ferrier and Andy Serkiss as Rukh! Who has thoughts on Borsk Feyla? Nicole Kidman as Winter?
Dave Thompson
6. DKT
Don Cheadle as Lando would be *ok*...but really, I lurve the idea of
Chiwetel Ejiofor playing Calirissian. Why the hell that guy doesn't work more is beyond me.
Ryan Britt
7. ryancbritt
@ 5
Matt- I love Malcolm McDowell something fierce. But do Generations and Wing Commander count as cred? ;-)

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