Benicio Del Toro Is Confident He’ll Be in ‘Star Wars: Episode 8’

Last month, we heard that Benicio Del Toro was being sought to play a new villain in Star Wars: Episode 8. And then there was silence, within which we can assume salaries were negotiated, scripts were written, and conversations were had. And that brings us to right now: Del Toro cannot confirm that he’s in the movie quite yet, but he seems awfully confident that it’s going to happen.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Del Toro went through the three stages of Star Wars talk. He got started with the classic “I really can’t say anything, but it’s going to be cool” opener:

I can’t tell you much about it but I think that it might happen. It looks like it’s gonna happen so I’m very excited.

Since that’s not a good quote by himself, the Oscar-winning actor immediately brought humor into the equation by talking up the power Disney has over his frail, mortal body:

I can’t talk too much about it. The script is hard to get. They told me they’d cut my finger if I talk about it.

And then he played the nostalgia card. Like every single other actor to become attached to a Star Wars movie in the past two years, Del Toro says he’s a fan of the series and it means a lot to him and so on:

I saw the original one when it came out and it marked me. I was impressed by the film and by the characters and by the story and the message.

So there you go. Unless something goes wrong, Benicio Del Toro will be in Star Wars: Episode 8, making him the first guy to inhabit the Star Wars and Marvel universes. Disney should go for the hat trick and get him to lend his voice to a Pixar movie.

Star Wars: Episode 8 is being written and directed by Rian Johnson and will open in May, 2017.