Michael B. Jordan talks his "bombed" Star Wars audition

Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger in Black Panther
(Image credit: Disney/Marvel)

Michael B. Jordan has opened up about his Star Wars audition.

"I think that was probably my worst audition to date," Jordan reflected to the Just for Variety podcast. "It just wasn't my best. It was probably my worst... I think it was just, [I] couldn't wrap my brain around some of the sides because you know when you're reading for these high-level projects, there's never really any specificity in the sides. Everything's like super vague; everything's in secret. Reading it through, I just couldn't connect it. I definitely bombed that one for sure... I'm pretty sure I ran out of there."

Jordan's career clearly wasn't hurt by Star Wars not working out, though. The actor's latest film, Without Remorse, hit Amazon Prime Video recently – and in 2018, Jordan memorably brought the villain Killmonger to life in Marvel's Black Panther. Jordan has also starred in the Creed movies as Adonis Johnson opposite Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa, and will make his directorial debut with Creed 3. 

Jordan's fellow MCU star Tom Holland has a similar story about bombing a Star Wars audition. "I remember my audition for Star Wars, I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega's role," Holland recalled. "I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, 'We gotta get back to the ship!' And she was going, 'Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.' I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they're called. Yeah, I obviously didn't get the part. That wasn't my best moment."

While we might not be seeing Star Wars on the big screen again for a while yet, the galaxy is ever expanding on Disney Plus – The Mandalorian season 3, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Book of Boba Fett, the next live-action Star Wars project to be released, are all on the way. The Bad Batch is also streaming weekly now. While you wait for more, check out our guide to watching Star Wars movies in order to get up to speed.

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

Read more
Werner Herzog in The Mandalorian
Star Wars fans are sharing their favorite unbelievable canon cameos – and some of them are seriously deep-cut
Star Wars
Two of Star Wars' biggest no-show movies get updates – but they're not completely promising
Jod Na Nawood holding a lightsaber
A Jedi was cut from the Star Wars Skeleton Crew finale – was she Jod’s former master?
Pedro Pascal as Joel in HBO's The Last of Us
Before he landed that Buffy cameo, Pedro Pascal lied that he was going to be in Twin Peaks (and that he was Christian Bale, too)
Barbie
Ryan Gosling in Star Wars? The Barbie star is reportedly in talks to join Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy's movie
the acolyte
The Acolyte star says the Star Wars show's cancelation was "overwhelming," but she's still "proud" of playing a Jedi: "Bucket list ticked"
Latest in Sci-Fi Movies
Giancarlo Esposito in The Electric State
The Electric State star Giancarlo Esposito explains why adapting the bleak novel into a family friendly adventure was the right decision: "I'm going to bring my children with me"
Giancarlo Esposito in The Electric State
The Electric State may be the Russo brothers' most challenging VFX project yet, but stars Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito say it's one of the easiest films they’ve ever done
Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci in The Electric State
Stars Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito say their new dystopian sci-fi movie The Electric State is more like our own reality than we might realize
Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Ke Huy Quan in The Electric State
$320 million in the hole, the Russo brothers' new Netflix movie debuts to their worst Rotten Tomatoes score even though it's one of the most expensive films ever made
Zoe Saldaña in Avatar
James Cameron had "too many great ideas" for Avatar: The Way of Water, so the cut content became Avatar 3 which "will actually be a little bit longer" than its 3-hour predecessor
Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17
Director Bong Joon Ho explains his new sci-fi film Mickey 17's surprise end title card: "It's a coming-of-age-story"
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2