Matt Smith dishes on his Star Wars role that would’ve changed the “history of the franchise”
Could Matt Smith have altered The Rise Of Skywalker? He seems to think so

The force is strong with Matt Smith, the former Doctor Who, and star of Last Night In Soho. Or, at least, it would have been, if his axed Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker character was as significant as he says it was.
In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Smith reluctantly offered some tidbits about the character he says would have altered the “history of the franchise.” Smith, however, says that he didn’t shoot any scenes, and the role never made it past a few meetings. Therefore, it never came close to being in the movie, even though “Somehow Palpatine returned” did.
Nevertheless, as evidenced by the leaked details regarding Colin Trevorrow’s scraped script for Episode IX, fans love hearing about how Rise Of Skywalker could’ve been better. And Horowitz is no exception.
Josh Horowitz: You were going to be in The Rise Of Skywalker. Matt, did you ever shoot any Star Wars scenes.