10) Daniel Craig
If you’re a big James Bond fan, you might have noticed the recognizable tones of 007 himself coming from beneath a Stormtrooper’s helmet. If you’re not, you will be surprised to learn that Daniel Craig was in The Force Awakens.
He appears as the guard watching over Rey, once she has been captured and taken to Starkiller Base. In a great scene, Rey uses her burgeoning Jedi powers to influence Craig’s Stormtrooper to free her and let her escape.
If you were keeping up to date with Star Wars news before it came out, you would have heard that Craig had a part in the film, as Simon Pegg accidentally let his cameo slip in an interview. For many people though, this definitely came as a nice little surprise.
9) Simon Pegg
Yes, even if you didn’t know it, it doesn’t really come as a surprise that Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg has appeared in Star Wars. He had already ticked off two other sci-fi franchises in Star Trek and Doctor Who, after all.
In The Force Awakens, Pegg is hidden beneath mounds of rubber and a modulated voice as Unkar Plutt, a junk dealer on Jakku who trades scraps of metal for food. You might remember that he attempted to steal BB-8 from Rey, while he also claims that the Millennium Falcon is his.
It may not be a major part, but it surely pleased the actor, who’s been a lifelong Star Wars fan and told Empire the following about his time on the film:
In May 25, 1977, some ten months before I would eventually see it myself, Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, then simply Star Wars, was released in just 42 theatres across the US. Exactly 37 years later, the day before I’m due on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, then simply Episode VII, I scare the bejesus out of J.J. Abrams by screeching dramatically at the fact that his suite, at the Abu Dhabi hotel complex we are staying in, is number 37.
And now I am standing on the set of the Millennium Falcon (the entrance corridor with the smuggling compartments), holding Chewbacca’s bowcaster, quietly “pew-pewing” to myself, waiting for Han and Chewie to arrive on set and make that entrance. I’ve been on a number of film sets over the years, witnessed a number of cool moments, but I have never seen so many people gathered around the monitors as on that day.