15 Actors Auditioned to Play Star-Lord Before Chris Pratt was Cast (the 2nd & 3rd Choices Were Revealed!)

Zachary Levi

Years after Chris was officially cast as Star-Lord, Zachary Levi looked back on his audition and explained how it helped him land a superhuman role in DC’s Shazam! franchise. He is believed to have been the third choice for the part.

“James [Gunn] and I knew each other, we were friends, we would have game nights at each other’s homes, had a lot of mutual friends. And so he had asked me to come in and read for Star-Lord, and I did, and then that led to the next step, and then all of a sudden I was camera testing,” he recalled on the The Fourth Wall podcast, via The Playlist. “Oh man, I wanted that role so bad, like so, so, so, so bad. It came down to me, one other guy, and Chris Pratt, but Chris was always their favorite and he was hesitant to take it, which is understandable, I mean it’s a big franchise thing, it’s Marvel, does it work out, does it not work out?”

He opined that being in the running for Star-Lord probably helped him with Shazam!: “I hoped I left enough of a good impression with James that when I was auditioning for Shazam, and his very dear friend, and manager, and sometimes producing partner, Peter Safran, calls up James because this is how our industry works…Fortunately, I was in good standing with James, I try to be in good standing with as many people as I can be and try to be a decent person, and I think between that and how well James thought I did in the Star-Lord test, he said, ‘Yeah man, you really should give Zach an opportunity at this. I really think he could be great.’ Was that the thing that sent it all over for me? I don’t know that, but I’m sure it was part of that conversation, absolutely. I’m indebted to James that he would believe in me enough to remember that and pass that info on.”

Lee Pace

Back in 2012, Lee Pace told MTV that he was in the running and had an imminent audition in front of the casting team.

“I have been [reading up on Star-Lord]. You want to know what you’re doing. The character is a lot of fun. I hope it works out,” he told the outlet, adding that he wasn’t sure what his chances were for getting the part. “I’ve got to audition. I’ve got to go get it. I actually love auditioning, so I’m happy to go meet them all and do it.”

Even though he hadn’t auditioned yet, he seemed to know that the movie was going to be a hit. “I’m very excited about it. The script is great. The character is a lot of fun,” he gushed.

Of course, Lee was not selected to play Star-Lord, but he got his own role in the movie. He brought Ronan the Accuser to life in the first Guardians movie and reprised the role in Captain Marvel.