Bryce Dallas Howard may be a relatively recent contributor to the Star Wars universe, but she’s already made her mark. She’s directed three episodes of The Mandalorian and an episode each of Skeleton Crew and The Book of Boba Fett, and she’s voiced the fan-favorite Jedi Yaddle in Tales of the Jedi. It’s not a bad resume for someone also busy starring in spy action-comedies.
We’ve recently learned just how deeply ingrained Howard really is in the Star Wars universe. Apparently, she’s had conversations with the powers that be about bringing a beloved Jedi back from the grave... if he was ever really dead at all.
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast back in April, Howard revealed that her Argylle co-star, Samuel L. Jackson, had been supportive of her directorial career. “[He] has told me many times that he would act in something that I directed, which is, like, I'm not worthy, basically,” she said. Knowing Howard and Jackson’s ties to the Star Wars universe, this obviously made fans think of the potential return of Mace Windu, the Jedi thrown out a window to his implied demise by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.
That was Howard’s first thought, too, and she took it right to Mandalorian co-showrunner (and Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer) Dave Filoni. “And then I went straight to Dave Filoni and I was like, ‘So, let's just talk about Mace Windu and where he is. Can we just talk about this? Because, is he dead? Is he?’”
Rumors of Mace Windu’s survival have always floated around the Star Wars universe, and Jackson himself has repeatedly said he’d be open to returning. He even mentioned Howard on his own Happy Sad Confused appearance. “The only person I’ve ever said that to about coming back was Bryce Dallas Howard, ’cause I just did a movie with her,” he said. “And she directs episodes of The Mandalorian, so, 'You think you might be able to hook a brother up? I mean you like me, right?’”
Now, in a conversation with The Direct, Howard revealed just how those conversations went. “I harass Dave Filoni a lot about a lot of things, and that's just one, but, yeah, no, that was a fun conversation, but didn't add up to anything,” she said.
That’s not a great omen for fans looking for the purple-saber-wielding Jedi to reappear decades later, but at least there was a “fun conversation” instead of Howard’s proposition being immediately rejected. Did Filoni tell her how he believes Windu met his end, or could there be another survival story planned for the future?
We’re probably not getting an Argylle reunion in Star Wars any time soon, but quotes like these prove that, for better or worse, the people behind modern-day Star Wars are fans with the same questions and theories as the rest of us. So who knows? Maybe Jackson will appear in a throwback story alongside his old co-star, Yaddle.
