The Star Wars Actor Who Turned Down The Big Bang Theory

“The Big Bang Theory” is one giant ode to nerddom, so it makes sense that over the years the show featured guest stars from the biggest geeky franchises in movies and television. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Wil Wheaton even ended up playing a villainous version of himself for a number of episodes, and plenty of other actors also joined in on the fun. No, seriously, there are a ton of “Star Trek” actors that have guest starred on “The Big Bang Theory.” But in season 7, it was time for the stars of another big sci-fi franchise to shine when superfan Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) tried to create his own Comic-Con. 

In “The Convention Conundrum,” Sheldon manages to find the voice of Darth Vader himself: the late, great James Earl Jones, playing himself, as he dines in a local sushi restaurant. Unlike Sheldon’s interactions with many other celebrities, Jones is actually excited to spend time with him, and they end up having an adventure together. They sing karaoke, go to a carnival, and even end up pranking the woman who played Princess Leia — the late, great Carrie Fisher, also playing herself — by ringing her doorbell and running away. It’s all great fun, but it turns out that the folks behind the show really wanted to try and get another “Star Wars” actor as well. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested.

In the oral history book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” by Jessica Radloff (via TVLine), casting director Nikki Valko revealed that while they were able to get the voice of Darth Vader and the actor who played his daughter Leia, they just weren’t able to convince the man who played scruffy nerfherder Han Solo to sign on. In news that should really be surprising to no one, Valko said that Ford was a hard pass:

“We would have loved Harrison Ford, but that never got any traction. He just was not open to it.”

Ford isn’t the kind of man who suffers fools lightly and he doesn’t do much that he doesn’t want to do, so it’s not a shock that he wouldn’t be interested in something like “The Big Bang Theory.” While he’s accepted his ties to “Star Wars” and its intense fandom, he’s also a little sick of certain fan questions and seems to chase roles that take him far away from a galaxy far, far away whenever possible. While it’s a bummer that Ford didn’t want to appear, the two actors who did decide to show up had a whole lot of fun.

“The Convention Conundrum” provided a chance for Fisher and Jones to meet in person for the first time, something they surprisingly had not done despite starring together in one of the most famous movies of all time. (Jones recorded his lines elsewhere and Fisher acted alongside Vader’s body actor, David Prowse.) One can just imagine their meeting, perhaps with a little “Carrie … I am your father,” humor, and the two titans of science fiction knocked their cameos out of the park. Fisher, who unfortunately died suddenly only two years after the episode, is pitch-perfect as a slightly more aggressive version of herself, fed up with Jones’s antics. 

The delightful fictional father-daughter duo weren’t the only “Star Wars” actors to appear on the hit series. Mark Hamill, who played Leia’s twin brother Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movies, also appeared in the season 11 episode “The Bow Tie Symmetry.” Hamill’s only regret was that he didn’t know the series too well when he did the cameo, but he later watched the whole thing while walking on the treadmill and fell in love with the show’s geeky humor. 

It’s a bummer that Ford didn’t deem a cameo on “The Big Bang Theory” worth his time, but it’s great that some of the other “Star Wars” actors made the effort and got to enjoy it in the process.