Taron Egerton reveals he turned down Han Solo role: 'I got on the Falcon'

Hokey religions and ancient weapons? Taron Egerton took a pass.

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Rocketman star told host Josh Horowitz that he was in the mix for the role of young Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but he took himself out of the running.

"I'll be honest, I got on the Falcon. I was with Chewie. I was in the full costume," Egerton said. "I felt like I got there, I did it, I lived it."

Egerton, 32, listened to his gut, which told him that stepping into Harrison Ford's shoes wasn't the right move for him. So he stepped away from the next round of auditions.

"It just felt to me like I didn't feel... like you know when we mentioned earlier, that thing when I read the Kingsman script and I was like, 'This is… I've gotta do this. This is my part,'" he told Horowitz. "I just didn't feel it."

In the end, the role in Solo: A Star Wars Story went to Alden Ehrenreich, and the 2018 film failed to launch with audiences.

Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Everett Collection (L) Taron Egerton and Harrison Ford as Han Solo

Egerton was among the cavalcade of young white men in Hollywood rumored at the time to be in contention for the Solo role, and in 2016, Egerton addressed the rumors while promoting his film Eddie the Eagle.

"I've seen the stuff on the internet, and I think any lad of my age would kill to play a part like that," he said on The Jonathan Ross Show at the time. "It's very, very flattering. I've no idea if there's any truth in it, but I mean, Lucasfilm, Disney, if there is, then you know where I am."

Egerton, who won a Golden Globe for his role as Elton John in Rocketman, told Horowitz this week that he was willing to discuss his brief stay on the Millennium Falcon because he believed enough time had gone by.

"It's far enough in the past now that I feel I can say that," he said. "I hope no one feels annoyed that I have said it."

Egerton recently opened up about his interest in another role made famous by a prior actor, telling The New York Times that he's had conversations with Marvel Studio and company president Kevin Feige about stepping into the role of Wolverine, who's famously been played by Hugh Jackman for decades.

Representatives for Egerton and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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