Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista Name the One Franchise They’re Eager to Join
Two franchise titans want to go bad in a galaxy far, far away: Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa are eyeing villain roles in Star Wars. With Bautista’s genre resume—from Drax and Guardians of the Galaxy to Dune’s Glossu Rabban, Riddick, Blade Runner 2049 and Army of the Dead—the duo’s dark-side ambitions feel inevitable.
Two giant dudes with even bigger franchises on their resumes both want the same thing: to be bad guys in Star Wars. Honestly? That tracks.
Momoa and Bautista shoot their shot
On Complex's GOAT Talk, Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista were asked to pick one franchise they still want to join. They immediately gravitated to a galaxy far, far away, calling themselves Star Wars nerds and laughing about how they both did Dune already — the very sci-fi epic they joked helped inspire Star Wars — but still want the real deal.
Momoa pressed Bautista on what kind of character he would want to play. His answer was fast:
"Bad guy. It's always more fun playing a bad guy."
"Always," Momoa shot back. "It looks like we're going up for the same role."
Why this actually makes sense
Bautista is already a fan favorite as Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and he has a stacked run of genre work: Glossu Rabban in Denis Villeneuve's Dune films, plus 2013's Riddick, 2017's Blade Runner 2049, 2021's Army of the Dead, 2022's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, 2023's Knock at the Cabin, and 2024's The Last Showgirl.
Momoa has his own pipeline of comic book and sci-fi cred: he played Duncan Idaho in the Dune movies, spent years as Aquaman/Arthur Curry in the DCEU, and is set to appear as Lobo in the DCU movie Supergirl, which is slated to hit this summer.
Right now, the two are teamed up in The Wrecking Crew, a buddy-cop action comedy directed by Ángel Manuel Soto that just dropped on Prime Video. If you needed proof they can do brawn, banter, and chaos together, there it is.
Where they could fit in Star Wars
Lucasfilm actually has a couple of big-screen projects on the calendar — and the timeline matters if these two are angling to jump aboard.
- The Mandalorian and Grogu (directed by Jon Favreau) hits U.S. theaters on May 22, 2026.
- Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter arrives on May 28, 2027.
There are several other Star Wars movies in development with no dates yet. Translation: plenty of places to stash a couple of charismatic heavies if the stars align.
They might be joking about competing for the same villain, but if Lucasfilm wants instant intimidation with actual personality behind it, these two just pitched themselves in the most on-brand way possible.