I am sad to report that Paul Walker, who starred in all but one of the films in the long-running Fast and the Furious franchise, died earlier today in a car crash in Valencia, California. Walker, who was the passenger in a friend's car, was on his way to a charity event held by his organization, Reach Out Worldwide, to raise funds for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines when the driver lost control of the car and hit a tree. The driver was also killed. The 40 year old actor, whose death was confirmed on his official Facebook and Twitter accounts, leaves behind a 15 year old daughter.
Walker has publicly said he was a long-time Star Wars fan, and he auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker before it went to Hayden Christensen. As reported by TheForce.Net in 2000, Walker said that he met with the casting director on Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: "she put me on tape, and submitted it to [George Lucas]. But his concern is that I'm too old, because I'm supposed to be younger than Natalie Portman. Remember, in Episode I there's quite an age difference there."
In a 2011 press event for Fast Five, Walker was asked by VagrantTV if there were roles he would have liked to have gotten but wasn't able to. He said: "When they were casting for Star Wars, I wanted to be Anakin Skywalker. I grew up on Star Wars, the original three... Those are roles that I look at and I thought, man, Han Solo and Indiana Jones are two of my most favorite characters of all time."
Our thoughts go out to Paul Walker's family. May he rest in peace.
About the Author
Brandon Rhea is the founder of Star Wars Fanpedia, a contributor on Wookieepedia, and the owner/operator and creative lead of The Star Wars RP. Professionally, he is Senior Community Manager at Wikia, the host of Fanpedia. Follow him on Twitter @brandonprhea.