Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell auditioned for Han Solo but blew his final audition: "I can joke about it now"

Glen Powell in Hit Man
(Image credit: Netflix)

Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell has revealed he once auditioned for Han Solo and Captain America.

During an interview with GQ, Powell admits he ‘screwed up’ a Marvel audition to portray Steve Rogers, a role that went to Chris Evans.

Perhaps more painful was missing out on Solo. Alden Ehrenreich ultimately snagged the part of the young smuggler in the 2018 Star Wars prequel.

"I can joke about it now [but] I blew that final audition," Powell said, while later adding in the same interview that one agent told him he was being "too punctual" for his auditions.

Happily, things turned out just fine for Powell. His turn as the wisecracking Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick led to greater opportunities down the line, including Richard Linklater’s assassin comedy Hit Man (coming to Netflix on June 7) and rom-com Anyone But You alongside Sydney Sweeney, which grossed almost $220 million at the worldwide box office.

Next after Hit Man, Powell is set to star in Twisters – the follow-up to the 1996 disaster movie. Also starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, Powell recently revealed in a new interview with Total Film magazine that he brought some real-world experience to the thriller.

"It’s actually something I got to incorporate a little bit into the movie," he explained. "I had an experience with this tornado in Jarrell, Texas. It was an F5 – one of the big ones. It decimated Jarrell. I was outrunning it with my aunt Taffy, and a car full of cousins. And I remember us having to take shelter. It didn’t get close enough to do any damage to us, but I remember the fear of being on the road when, you know, the biggest imaginable one was kind of coming through."

Captain America and Han Solo may have been put on ice in their respective universes, but there’s plenty still to come: here’s the latest on the upcoming Star Wars movies and upcoming Marvel movies.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.