British actress Jessica Henwick became something of a genre fan-favorite after appearing in
Game of Thrones and Marvel's
Iron Fist, and she has now booked roles in
The Matrix 4 and
Godzilla vs. Kong. Henwick also popped up as Resistance pilot Jess Pava in
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it turns out she came very close to landing the lead.
While chatting to
THR, Henwick revealed that she went through a rigorous six month-long casting process to emerge as one of the finalists to play Rey. The part ultimately went to Daisy Ridley, of course, but director J.J. Abrams wanted Henwick to be in the movie and wrote her character into the script.
"At the end, J.J. said, “I want you to be in the film, but I want to write a character for you.” That’s how Jess Pava was created. So, it was a very, very long experience. It’s hard because I’ve been doing this long enough to know that you go in, audition, put it to the back of your mind, don’t think about it and don’t get emotionally invested. But, after six months, you can’t help but just desperately want it. I’m also such a big J.J. fan. So, I was a mess at the end of those six months."
Most fans would agree that Ridley did a great job as Rey, but it's hard not to think about what might have been if Henwick had won the role.
For many, Colleen Wing was the real standout of
Iron Fist, and Marvel fans were very disappointed to learn that Henwick most likely won't get the opportunity to return as the character after the events of season 2 - although Jessica now seems to have made peace with how things ended for Colleen.
"I definitely would’ve loved to have done more Daughters of the Dragon-type stuff with Simone (Missick)," she admiited.
"We had so many great ideas, and Simone and I have a really wonderful chemistry in real life. So, that’s something that I would’ve loved to have visited, but for the most part, Colleen had a great journey. It was this real zero-to-hero type moment for her at the end of season two. So, yeah, I feel happy."
Henwick can currently be seen in theaters in sci-fi horror flick
Underwater.