FILM · 1999 · USA
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
- Directed by
- George Lucas
- Runtime
- 136 min
- Studio
- Lucasfilm Ltd.
299 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Anakin Skywalker, a young slave strong with the Force, is discovered on Tatooine. Meanwhile, the evil Sith have returned, enacting their plot for revenge against the Jedi.
Summary: TMDB
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace: 27 Facts About the Characters and Cast
- #008
Contains a major spoiler — show
Ian McDiarmid was surprised when George Lucas approached him to reprise the role of Palpatine sixteen years after Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), because he had assumed a younger actor would play the part in the prequels. Lucas had in fact initially told him he would be playing a senator. When McDiarmid arrived on the film's set, he learned he was about to play Palpatine.
- #012
Keira Knightley's parents tried to persuade her not to attend the audition, but the twelve-year-old actress was still looking for a role, given that she was a Star Wars fan.
- #020
Around the time of the film's release, the producers ran a disinformation campaign claiming that Natalie Portman always played both Padmé and the Queen. In fact they are not always the same person. In many parts of the film, especially the scenes in which the Queen wears the huge feathered black costume, the Queen is actually a decoy played by Keira Knightley. The real queen, Portman, is in fact disguised as a handmaiden. Various contradictory press statements make it extremely difficult to tell who is who. Entire websites are devoted to working out which actress played which handmaiden or the Queen at any given point.
- #040
Tupac Shakur (a Star Wars fan since childhood) expressed interest in reading for a role, and even lobbied mutual friends to contact each other so that he and George Lucas could arrange a meeting to read together, but his tragic murder in September 1996 prevented such a meeting from happening. He was thought to be a candidate for the role of Mace Windu, but the character's name had not been made public before filming began and was not specifically written for an African-American until Samuel L. Jackson was cast. In the first concept art, Windu was drawn as an alien and also resembled concept designer Doug Chiang.
- #052
Ewan McGregor did not expect to take on the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi because of the "urban, indie" persona he had developed in Trainspotting (1996). Even as he progressed through auditions and his chances improved, he felt he was not right for the part and sought advice from many people, including Trainspotting director Danny Boyle. He also consulted his uncle Denis Lawson, who played the Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. Lawson warned McGregor against taking the role, saying: "If you want a career after you're 30, don't do it." Both men reprised their roles in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), though for McGregor it was only a vocal cameo.
- #071
Contains a major spoiler — show
One of Darth Maul's few lines is "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have our revenge." Neither this film nor the following ones ever explains why they were hiding or what they sought revenge for. In the official Star Wars canon, the Sith Order arose from a group of Jedi who challenged the old doctrine that the path to accessing the Force was sacrifice and restraint. Because of their belief that the way to control their power was through (violent) passions, these Sith Lords were exiled from the Jedi Order. The Sith then banded together over the centuries to conquer the Galactic Republic and take their revenge by driving out the Jedi Order once and for all.
- #074
Keira Knightley claimed that although they tried to be consistent about her playing only Sabé while Queen Amidala was in disguise, there were several long shots in which she stood in for Natalie Portman at times when Padmé was supposed to be in the Queen character.
- #097
Contains a major spoiler — show
This is the only film in the series in which its most acclaimed actor (Liam Neeson, as Qui-Gon Jinn) plays a character who does not return, and the first film in which its most beloved character dies. It is also the only film in the previous trilogy that does not give Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) the highest billing.
- #100
Liam Neeson was forty-six years old when he played Qui-Gon, who is sixty years old in the script.
- #120
Pernilla August, one of the doyennes of Swedish cinema, was cast after an audition with Liam Neeson. She was afraid of being rejected because of her accent.
- #145
Peter Serafinowicz criticized George Lucas's poor direction while voicing Darth Maul, which amounted to "Make him sound evil." He was also unhappy that his character had only three lines in the film and that he was paid an inadequate fee for them. He was further annoyed at not even being invited to the film's premiere, having to cover his own tickets and travel expenses, and he thought the film was not very good.
- #146
Samuel L. Jackson explained that his casting was a direct result of his appearing on a talk show after George Lucas announced he was working on a new Star Wars film. Asked whether there was a director he wanted to work with, Jackson immediately chose Lucas because he was a huge Star Wars fan. Jackson was later invited to a meeting by Lucas, who told him he wanted him in the film but was not yet sure which role to give him; Jackson half-jokingly said he would accept any role, even playing an unnamed Stormtrooper who appears on screen only once and goes unlisted in the credits. The secrecy surrounding the film was so great that when Jackson was invited to costume rehearsals he had not even read the script; there he learned that Lucas had cast him as a Jedi named Mace Windu and that he would even have scenes with Yoda. Before Jackson expressed interest in joining the cast, Mace Windu was to be an animatronic character. This alien was later identified as an "Anx" and can be seen sitting in Watto's box during the podrace (as Graxol Kelvyyn) and in the Senate scenes (as Senator Horox Ryyder).
- #171
Adrian Dunbar was originally cast as Bail Organa and appeared briefly in the Senate scene. When his performance was cut, the character's name was changed to Bail Antilles (mentioned on screen by Captain Panaka). A photo of Dunbar still appeared in two publications: The Ultimate Star Wars: Episode I Sticker Book (as Senator Bail Organa) and Star Wars: Episode I Who's Who (as Bail Antilles).
- #178
Silas Carson was cast as Nute Gunray because another actor was uncomfortable in the Trade Federation characters' costumes, which were hot and put too much pressure on the wearer, and took about fifteen minutes to put on.
- #207
When Natalie Portman was announced as the actress cast to play Luke and Leia's mother, comic-book adaptations of "The Thrawn Trilogy" were being released. A painting of Padmé Amidala appears in the Imperial Palace in the fifth issue of the "The Last Command" comic series. It was published in April 1998, making it Padmé's first appearance in the universe. However, since this is part of the Legends continuity, "The Phantom Menace" marks Padmé's first appearance in canon.
- #240
Kelly Macdonald was competing to play Queen Amidala. She had appeared alongside Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting (1996), playing Renton's young girlfriend Diane.
- #256
Ewan McGregor was previously offered a second role played by Alec Guinness: the lead in Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003). The role was played by his Trainspotting (1996) co-star Robert Carlyle and another Star Wars cast member, Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
- #257
In a 2025 interview, Ray Winstone revealed that he was drunk during his audition for the role of Padme's father, which he said "didn't go well." The role ultimately went to Graeme Blundell, and Winstone said he was not bothered by it because he thought that kind of film, with extensive blue-screen work, would bore him.
- #258
Trace Beaulieu read for the role of Jar Jar Binks. He did not get the part, but the film would later be mocked by his former Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) co-stars Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy on RiffTrax.
- #261
Michael Angarano auditioned for the role of young Anakin and was one of three finalists alongside Jake Lloyd, who won the part.
- #267
Joseph Fiennes was a finalist for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was reported that George Lucas's daughter expressed that she did not like him, which cost him the role. His older brother Ralph Fiennes had worked with Liam Neeson on Schindler's List (1993). Ralph also appeared in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992), a sequel to Lawrence of Arabia (1962) that reworked the role previously played by Sir Alec Guinness.
- #269
One of the film's trailers first aired with Wing Commander (1999), which starred Freddie Prinze Jr., later the voice of the older Jedi Kanan in Star Wars: Rebels (2014). Mark Hamill also appeared in Wing Commander and featured in three of its games — Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994), Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995) and Wing Commander: Prophecy (1997) — as well as the animated series Wing Commander Academy (1996).
- #270
Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Kyle MacLachlan, Denzel Washington and Kurt Russell were considered to play Qui-Gon Jinn. Russell had auditioned to play Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
- #274
Gary Oldman, Gary Busey, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Payne, Tom Noonan and Richard Edson were among George Lucas's other options for the role of Qui-Gon Jinn before he chose Liam Neeson. Jon Voight was another preference for the role.
- #278
British actress Vinette Robinson auditioned for the role of Queen Amidala. She would later play Pilot Tyce in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
- #285
Timothy Omundson was also George Lucas's first choice for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi before Ewan McGregor.
- #296
Brian Blessed wanted a role in this film because his friend Sir Alec Guinness had told him he enjoyed making the first film. Before this film, Blessed had appeared in Hamlet (1996), in which Sir John Gielgud, who had directed the 1933 production and cast a then-unknown Guinness as Osric in his first stage role, played a small part. In the 1948 film Hamlet (1948), that role was played by Guinness's Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) co-star Peter Cushing. Sir Christopher Lee also appeared. In the film Blessed appeared in, his role was played by Robin Williams, who appeared alongside Ewan McGregor in Being Human (1994) and Robots (2005).
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