Tom Hardy Stormtrooper Rumor: The Actor Answers The Question Of Whether Or Not He’ll Have A Role In the Next ‘Star Wars’ Film


Tom Hardy is finally addressing the rumors that he will have a cameo as a stormtrooper in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII film. The rumors have been circulating for months, and The Hollywood Reporter‘s Lacey Rose asked the Mad Max: Fury Road star about the Star Wars stormtrooper rumor, among other things, when she sat down with him recently for an interview.

Hardy was in Manhattan to promote his 19th century drama series Taboo, which is about to premiere on FX in the United States and the BBC in England. The two networks jointly produced the show, and Hardy stars in and served as an executive producer of the eight-episode miniseries.

Lacey started the interview by asking Tom Hardy about his reputation for supposedly being “dangerous.”

“There’s this myth, which is quite asinine, that circulates about me — usually by those who haven’t worked with me,” Hardy said.

“There’s only one thing worse than being talked about and that’s not being talked about in this game so I’d rather it be that, I guess. But there are other people who I work with consistently who know that’s not the case — who just wouldn’t risk having somebody like that in their midst because there’s too much at stake. Obviously you’re going to rub people the wrong way…and I’ve been a d*ck. But then, who hasn’t?”

Hardy did, however, acknowledge that his bad boy reputation comes in handy sometimes when he’s playing villainous characters.

“I play a lot of scary blokes,” Hardy said, “and there are probably a few reasons why.”

He explained that he enjoys playing villains because they are “more interesting than hero leads.”

Opening up a more personal side, he confessed that he also prefers taking on the role of the bad guy because doing so is a means of facing some of his childhood fears in a way.

“Another part of it is when I was younger I remember being frightened a lot — of being small and skinny and vulnerable and feeling that I could have been preyed upon easily,” Hardy said. “So, everything that I play is what scared me.”

Tom Hardy also admitted that he is not always the best “ambassador” for the film industry because he is not a “well-trained public persona” in the way that Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio are and he lacks a filter when it comes to conversation sometimes.

Hardy spoke on several other topics with Rose, including working on the film The Revenant, feeling out of place at the Oscars, working with his father on Taboo and what types of projects he likes to take on at this stage in his career.

Rose saved the Star Wars stormtrooper question for last.

“Final question,” Rose began, “Rumor has it you’re going to be a stormtrooper in the next Star Wars movie. True?”

Hardy played dumb and coy.

“I don’t know if I can even say that,” he started. “Where did you hear that?”

When Rose replied she had heard it from “the internet,” Hardy shot back, “Ah, the internet is a glorious web of deceit and misinformation, isn’t it?” and laughed.

Rose nudged him a little further, asking, “So that’s misinformation?”

Hardy simply replied, wryly, “It could be, couldn’t it?”

Well, that is some of the best question dodging we’ve seen in a while.

Of course there has not been any official indication that Tom Hardy will be appearing as a stormtrooper in Star Wars: Episode VIII.

As Entertainment Weekly points out, the whole rumor about Hardy possibly playing a stormtrooper stems from the Star Wars fan website MakingStarWars.net, which claimed to have confirmed, through anonymous sources, of course, that Hardy would be playing a stormtrooper in the next Star Wars installment. It is not a far-fetched possibility, considering that Daniel Craig had a sneak cameo in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There just isn’t any solid proof of it from a reliable source as of yet.

Tom Hardy’s non-answer in The Hollywood Reporter interview is probably bound to fan the flames of the stormtrooper rumor rather than quell them.

[Featured image by Clemens Bilan/Getty Images]

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