Is Matt Smith Actually In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker?
3. Official Star Wars Website Mentions Smith (April 2019)
At this stage, everyone was starting to doubt that Smith was in the film, such was the firmness of his earlier statement. But then, the plot thickened.
In April 2019, Star Wars' UK website (via ComicBook.com) listed Smith in the cast list for Episode IX, stating that he would be appearing alongside the likes of other franchise newcomers Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, and Dominic Monaghan, a group of actors who are definitely in the film.
Much like Variety's report and Mr. Sunday Movies' rumour, this shouldn't be taken as a confirmation. There's a chance that the team responsible for updating the website just used information they found on Google, rather than asking internally. If Smith's role was supposed to be a secret, there's no way the marketing team would be given the go-ahead to add him to this cast list, so, if anything, this was a slip-up.
But something even more interesting happened next: Smith's name was removed from the cast list entirely. Was this because he isn't in the film? Or was it to preserve secrecy? At the very least, this development kept the Smith/Rise of Skywalker connection alive - there's no smoke without fire, after all.