10 Actors Who Totally Blew Star Wars Auditions
9. Saoirse Ronan
During pre-production of The Force Awakens, Saoirse Ronan was reported to be in contention to play the film's female lead - a fact which Ronan herself actually confirmed to Sky Arts in late 2013, several months before the film's cast was formally announced.
However, a few weeks later in an interview with IndieWire, Ronan revealed that she lost out on the Star Wars role, and seemed to express regret about ever discussing it publicly before the cast was announced. She said:
"I don’t have Star Wars. I don’t have the role... I just shouldn’t have said anything. I just auditioned for it, like everyone else did."
Given director J.J. Abrams' fondness for secrecy and Hollywood etiquette dictating that actors generally don't discuss roles they're up for while the casting process is still ongoing, it's entirely possible that Ronan's loose lips contributed to her losing out on the role to newcomer Daisy Ridley instead.
Ronan clearly would've knocked Rey out of the park, though there's also something to be said for hiring a basically unknown actor who brings no star baggage with them.