Fake Star Wars trailer puts Leonardo DiCaprio in role of Anakin Skywalker

With the runaway success of the Star Wars movies since 2015 and the excitement about Disney’s new Star Wars theme park areas, it’s often hard to remember that, at one time, the future of the franchise was not so bright.

The second three movies in the saga — which were actually the first three chronologically — have not exactly aged well. Whether it was explaining the force with bacteria, the excessive use of computer animation, or everything ever about Jar Jar Binks, “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” are usually at the bottom of Star Wars fans’ rankings.

But if there is one reason most often cited as to why those movies did not connect with fans, it is probably the acting. In particular, the performances of Hayden Christensen in “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith.” In those movies, Christensen played Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader. He was wooden. He was whiny. He was not a fan of walks on the beach:

So what if, theoretically, we could go back in time and replace Christensen with a more beloved actor? An Oscar winner even? Well, wonder no more because a fan managed to create a trailer with Anakin being played by the one, the only, Leonardo DiCaprio:

The trailer — done by YouTuber What’s the Mashup — splices together parts of different DiCaprio and Star Wars movies, and it’s enough to give you goosebumps as to what might have been.

Believe it or not, DiCaprio as Darth Vader was almost a reality and not just a fan dream. But DiCaprio turned down the part because he thought he wasn’t ready for it. Yep, there is an alternate timeline of our universe where DiCaprio is in Star Wars and Kate Winslet lets Matthew McConaughey freeze in the Atlantic Ocean.

So for now, this trailer is all we have. Of course, considering it looks like we are about to get a ton more “Star Wars” movies, there is still plenty of time for DiCaprio to get in on the action. After all, Chewbacca would never do this to Leo:

… unless he beat him at Dejarik.