Leonardo DiCaprio is no stranger to great parts. One of the most accomplished actors of his generation, DiCaprio has played some of the most widely beloved characters in cinema since his feature debut in “Critters 3.” Most recently delivering one of 2025’s best performances in Paul Thomas Anderson’s mega-hit “One Battle After Another,” DiCaprio has spent the past 30 years as one of Hollywood’s must-see performers. But despite embodying everything from drowning heartthrobs to evil plantation owners, the star has yet to cross galactic frontiers. To some cinephiles’ dismay, however, a DiCaprio-led sci-fi franchise came surprisingly close to fruition, as the actor almost joined “Star Wars” as its most indelible character: Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader.
The revelation came to light during a 2015 interview with ShortList. This fact can be a bit jarring for the franchise’s legion of fans, particularly those who were introduced to the “Star Wars” universe with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. To some fans, the change would have been welcomed, as Christensen’s performance was somewhat maligned by critics and older, gatekeeping fans alike.
But swapping Christensen for DiCaprio as The Chosen One for “Star Wars” Episode II and III is a game of “what if” with unfathomable repercussions across movie history, not only morphing the journey of everyone’s favorite rogue Jedi, but potentially robbing the character of some of its best performances. And since DiCaprio isn’t rumored to be in any upcoming Star Wars releases, such speculation will be based only on the actor’s comments detailing the franchise’s influence on his latest films, as he did on The Ringer’s The Big Picture podcast in September 2025.
DiCaprio declined a role in Star Wars and many other movies
According to Leonardo DiCaprio, George Lucas approached him about playing Skywalker in the film’s prequels. Then in his mid-20s, DiCaprio was in the midst of one of the most lauded early-career runs in movie history, following up his first Academy Award nomination for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” with performances as the titular lead in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and Jack Dawson in “Titanic” (1997). Despite such success, DiCaprio told ShortList’s Marc Chacksfield that he “just didn’t feel ready to take that dive.”
Playing a young would-be Darth Vader was far from the only role in a multi-billion-dollar franchise Leo passed up, as DiCaprio states he’d already declined to star alongside Val Kilmer as Robin in Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever.” Around the time he snubbed “Star Wars,” the budding star was approached for the role in Sam Raimi’s 2002 classic “Spider-Man.” According to DiCaprio, his reasoning for declining lucrative franchises was largely uniform — pun intended: The young actor simply didn’t feel ready to don the suit.
Of course, these genre blockbusters are far from the only major hits DiCaprio has declined. Reportedly offered lead roles in films like “American Psycho,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “The Matrix,” and “Nightmare Alley,” DiCaprio’s list of declined roles reads better than the IMDb of almost every other actor of his era. But according to an August 2025 interview with Paul Thomas Anderson for Esquire, one role still haunts DiCaprio more than all the rest. “My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights,'” the actor said, referencing the director’s offer to star as Dirk Diggler, played by Mark Wahlberg. “It was a profound movie of my generation … I just thought it was a masterpiece.”
A Star Wars butterfly effect
Although a lightsaber-wielding Leonardo DiCaprio is a fun thought experiment, the more interesting question is how the role might have changed movie history. Released in 2002 and 2005, respectively, “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” entailed grueling filming schedules across Tunisia, Spain, Italy, Australia, Thailand, China, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. How this schedule might have impacted Leonardo DiCaprio’s filmography is difficult to ascertain, because while Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman both starred in multiple other films throughout the years they filmed the three “Star Wars” prequels, Hayden Christensen only appeared in the journalism drama “Shattered Glass.” That’s why it’s unclear how many opportunities DiCaprio would’ve had to give up on to film the trilogy.
DiCaprio spent the early 2000s delivering some of the strongest performances of his career. Infamously selective with his film choices, DiCaprio took prestigious roles with some of the industry’s greatest working directors. That period was when DiCaprio led Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” (2002), “The Aviator” (2004), and “The Departed” (2006), Steven Spielberg’s hijinks-laden adventure film “Catch Me If You Can” (2002), and Edward Zwick’s thriller-with-a-conscience “Blood Diamond” (2006).
Of course, there’s no telling where DiCaprio’s career might have gone following “Star Wars.” While he undoubtedly would’ve outdueled Christensen, the prequel’s infamously clunky dialogue likely would’ve rendered whatever gains the actor might have incurred as incremental. As such, adding DiCaprio to the Duel on Mustafar wouldn’t be worth losing any of his early 2000s performances. Furthermore, for younger audiences that grew up with the prequels, Christensen’s Skywalker remains a cultural touchstone worth lauding. Thus, fans will simply have to be content with the Force ghosts of what could have been. That is, unless DiCaprio decides to make a surprise cameo in the forthcoming “Star Wars” trilogy.
