It's Always Sunny: One Of The Gang 'Almost' Played Anakin Skywalker In Star Wars
As popular, long-running sitcoms go, they don't get much closer to the Dark Side than "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." As it turns out, one of the Paddy's Pub gang actually came pretty close to beginning his own journey to the Dark Side somewhat earlier, auditioning in his pre-FX days for the highly coveted role of Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones."
As hard as it may be to believe, "Always Sunny" star Rob McElhenney once revealed in a puppy-assisted Buzzfeed interview — alongside Ryan Reynolds — that he auditioned to play Anakin Skywalker. He doesn't specify when the audition took place. However, given McElhenney's age, it only makes sense that his audition was for "Attack of the Clones," which came out in 2002, three years before the first episode of "It's Always Sunny."
It's a somewhat mind-blowing revelation for fans of either "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" or "Star Wars," and if you happen to be a devotee of both decades-spanning sagas, all the more so.
Rob McElhenney claimed he lost the role due to his eye color
The tidbit came in the interview after a question about notable roles the two actors almost got to play. Ryan Reynolds revealed he once auditioned for the role of Superman, which is interesting but not quite as out of left field as the idea of Rob McElhenney playing Anakin Skywalker.
Then, McElhenney told the sad tale of why he ended up losing the role of Anakin to Hayden Christensen. It all came down to not acting ability, charisma, or Force sensitivity, but eye color.
"I remember them saying to me, 'It's not gonna work because he doesn't have blue eyes,'" McElhenney recalled. "And I was, like, 'B***ch, you're creating entire armies of mutant robots, but you can't change somebody's eyes?'"
Evidently not, and thus McElhenney was free to co-create "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" a few years later, restoring balance to the Force. Still, it's intriguing to imagine what "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith" might have been like with Mac in the lead role. Disturbing and wrong, but intriguing.