10 Movie Roles Harrison Ford Turned Down

5. Captain Dallas (Alien)

In terms of genre greats, Ridley Scott's Alien is a perfect meshing of horror and science-fiction. Would it have been even greater with Harrison Ford on board, though? Having already appeared in a small space opera known as Star Wars, Ford was offered the role of Captain Dallas in Scott's 1979 movie. The actor, of course, turned down a role in the film, and one trail of thought is that he rejected the gig because he didn't want to be associated with another space-based picture so soon after having already travelled to a galaxy far, far away - especially when he was apparently already tied to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi by that point in time. The man who did take on the Dallas role was Tom Skerritt, with the doomed gaffer of the Nostromo meeting a sticky end at the hands of the Xenomorph. If Ford had taken the role, he'd have certainly brought some of his legendary charisma to Captain Dallas, and that would've also thrown up questions over whether the poor Captain would've made it out of the film alive given the fact that Ford was well on his way to becoming one of the biggest names on the planet at that stage.
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.