Phoenix 24
The rejected role preceded a career built through darker characters.
LONDON, United Kingdom | June 2026
Olivia Cooke has revealed that she auditioned several times to play Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, years before becoming internationally recognized as Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon. The British actress said one audition took place in Los Angeles and another was conducted with director J.J. Abrams. She recalled the experience with unusual bluntness, admitting that she believed her performance had been poor. The role ultimately went to Daisy Ridley, who became the central figure of the sequel trilogy.
Cooke discussed the casting process during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. She was initially asked about older reports connecting her to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, particularly the character later played by Kelly Marie Tran. Cooke dismissed that suggestion as an inaccurate rumor. She then clarified that her genuine connection to the franchise involved the much larger role of Rey in the previous film.
The audition occurred during a period when Lucasfilm was searching widely for relatively unknown performers capable of carrying a new generation of Star Wars films. Rey was introduced as a resourceful scavenger living on the desert planet Jakku before becoming involved in the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order. The character required physical confidence, emotional openness and the ability to anchor a franchise surrounded by enormous expectations. Cooke was among numerous young actresses considered during the extensive selection process.
Looking back, she said she knew during the auditions that she was not delivering the performance required. She described the disappointment of entering a room, failing to connect with the material and feeling that she had let down both herself and the casting team. Her assessment was not directed at the role or the filmmakers. Instead, she acknowledged that she was not the right kind of performer for Rey at that stage of her development.
Cooke also praised Ridley’s work and accepted that the final choice had been appropriate. Ridley made her debut as Rey in the 2015 film and returned for The Last Jedi in 2017 and The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The character became one of the most recognizable figures introduced during Disney’s stewardship of the franchise. Cooke’s account avoids the familiar suggestion that a rejected actor was necessarily better suited than the person selected.
The missed opportunity did not interrupt her professional progress. During the same period, Cooke starred in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, an independent drama that received strong recognition on the festival circuit. Her performance demonstrated a capacity for vulnerability, restraint and emotional complexity that differed considerably from the heroic qualities required for Rey. The film helped establish her as a performer capable of carrying difficult material.
She later entered large-scale science fiction through Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. Cooke portrayed Samantha Cook, also known as Art3mis, a leading participant in the film’s virtual competition and resistance movement. The role gave her experience with visual effects, action sequences and a major studio production. It also proved that missing Star Wars had not prevented her from working within ambitious genre entertainment.
Her performance in Sound of Metal further expanded her reputation. The film followed a drummer confronting sudden hearing loss and the transformation of his personal relationships. Cooke played Lou, his partner and musical collaborator, with an understated emotional approach that complemented Riz Ahmed’s central performance. The production received multiple Academy Award nominations and strengthened her standing among filmmakers and critics.
Television eventually provided the role most closely associated with her career. Cooke joined HBO’s House of the Dragon as the adult Alicent Hightower, one of the principal figures in the conflict dividing the Targaryen dynasty. The character operates through political calculation, religious conviction, maternal fear and accumulated resentment. Alicent’s contradictions give Cooke material far removed from the direct heroic journey represented by Rey.
Her performance requires control rather than conventional spectacle. Alicent often communicates through small changes in expression, restrained anger and carefully chosen language. She is capable of compassion and cruelty while remaining trapped within institutions she also helps preserve. That ambiguity has allowed Cooke to demonstrate qualities that might not have been visible in a more straightforward franchise role.
The third season of House of the Dragon has returned Cooke to the center of one of television’s largest productions. The series continues the civil war between rival branches of House Targaryen, with Alicent confronting the consequences of decisions made during the first two seasons. The production has already been renewed for a fourth and final chapter. Cooke’s place within the story is now secure, regardless of how her character’s influence changes as the war expands.
Her recollection also illustrates the unpredictable relationship between auditions and long-term careers. Actors may fail to obtain roles that appear capable of changing their lives, only to find work better suited to their abilities later. A poor audition can reflect timing, preparation or an imperfect connection with one character rather than a lack of talent. Casting decisions shape careers, but they do not determine their final direction.
Cooke’s honesty removes some of the mythology surrounding major franchise auditions. Successful actors do not necessarily deliver convincing work in every room, and established careers often contain moments of visible failure. Her willingness to describe the experience without blaming others suggests greater confidence than she possessed during the original process. The disappointment has become a story she can now tell from a position of professional security.
Playing Rey would have placed Cooke inside one of cinema’s most commercially powerful franchises. Not receiving the role instead allowed her career to develop through independent drama, science fiction, acclaimed film and complex television. That path may have given her a broader range of characters than a single defining franchise commitment would have permitted. What once felt like failure eventually became one turn in a more varied career.
Rejection changes meaning when the next role reveals a stronger voice. / El rechazo cambia de significado cuando el siguiente papel revela una voz más fuerte.