As notable as a John Wayne cameo in Star Wars would be, its appearance in A New Hope It went unnoticed for 30 years before full details about this cameo were revealed. THE Star Wars The franchise is no stranger to cameos, especially in the current era of TV shows, but it was very rare to see such appearances during the original trilogy era when Star Wars was just beginning to make a name for himself. Even so, they still managed to make John Wayne part of the first Star Wars film, although his role remained a mystery for years.
In fact, this role of Wayne in Star Wars is so mysterious that his name doesn’t even appear in the credits of A New Hope. Even Wayne’s IMDb profile doesn’t appear on Star Wars listed. Despite this, Wayne’s role actually exists and is an important (albeit small) part of the film. It may not be as apparent as the role his grandson Brendan Wayne plays as one of Din Djarin’s three main actors in The Mandalorianbut Wayne’s legacy is now forever linked to Star Warsand see how.
John Wayne’s Star Wars Cameo Is Something You Would Never Have Seen
It is a voice only function
The gunslinger actor Star Wars the cameo is voice-only, as his old dialogue was turned into a sequence on Tatooine. When creating the sound for the insect-like creature now known as Garindan, who serves as an Imperial informant at the Mos Eisley spaceport, the team crafted a mix that had a vibrant sound effect to truly emulate that of a mosquito, which is what the Kubaz species in Star Wars it seems. It was only 30 years later that it was revealed that buzz came from Wayne’s own discarded dialogue for another filmwhich means Wayne technically voices Garindan.
This was discovered by sound designer Ben Burtt, who went back to the original tapes out of curiosity. Wanting to understand how it all happened, Burtt studied his work and captured a human voice providing this vibrant voice from his synthesizer. That’s when he identified it as Wayne’s voice, saying something like “Alright, what are you doing in this town?“
Star Wars was technically John Wayne’s last film appearance
It was released 2 years before his death
With that in mind, Star Wars is technically Wayne’s last appearance in a film, with his last official credit was in 1976 – a year before Star Wars was released. Wayne may not have even known that her voice was used in this film since it was a secret for so long, but her legacy still remains to this day. The Garindan scene has become nothing short of iconic in its own right, and adding this layer to it just makes it that much more memorable. It’s certainly a unique cameo in A New Hopebut still memorable.