8 well-known actors you probably missed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

If JJ Abrams says to you, 'Do you want to be in Star Wars: The Force Awakens?', you're pretty much going to say 'YEP!'. Even if 'being in Star Wars' involves standing around doing nothing in the background. This is also apparently true if you're a fairly famous star because I spotted eight well-known actors making cameos in Episode 7 in some seriously bit parts. If you blinked at any point when watching this movie, you'll definitely have missed some of these and how can you get adequately prepped for Star Wars 9 if you haven't even seen TFA properly?!

Read more: 5 questions we have after watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Thomas Brodie-Sangster 

Best known for: Being the kid from Love Actually, Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner

Plays: First Order Officer

The role: He's in one scene quite near the start where he alerts a Star Destroyer commander to the unauthorised TIE Fighter take off, then swivels around in his chair. A tour de force, then.

Daniel Craig

Best known for: Being James Bond

Plays: A Stormtrooper (reportedly)

The role: Wild speculation here, but the rumour is that he plays the Stormtrooper Rey manipulates into letting her go. Simon Pegg originally let the cameo slip when he said Craig would be a Stormtrooper, but Craig promptly then told EW he wasn't, saying: "Fucking hell! Pffft. Play an extra in another movie? Talk to Simon Pegg. He obviously knows way more than I do. He's just jealous because he's not in Star Wars. He's got some issue with JJ [Abrams] I don't know what the fuck it is. You need to talk to Simon about it." A reaction so ridiculously over the top, it's probably all true. 

Billie Lourd

Best known for: Scream Queens, being Carrie Fisher's daughter

Plays: Lieutenant Connix

The Role: A Resistance ranking officer who gets one line which is something like, 'Have you seen this, General?' to her mum - and does lots of standing about. She's the blond one with her hair in buns; a nod to her mum's former hairdo. 

Simon Pegg

Best known for: Shaun of the Dead, Mission Impossible, Star Trek

Plays: Unkar Plutt

The role: Now bessie mates with JJ, Pegg's role is in act 1 only, but it's actually rather cool. Unkar Plutt is a corrupt junk dealer on Jakku who scavenger Rey trades with for food. But Unkar fancies a piece of BB-8, triggering Rey's loyalty to the little ball of fun.

Emun Elliott

Best known for: Prometheus

Plays: Brance (a member of the Resistance)

The role: Stands next to Oscar Isaac while the Resistance has lots of stirring conversations about how to defeat the First Order. Gets lots of screen time but just one line: 'A laser cannon?' Look out for him in Star Wars 8 where, if he's really lucky, he might get to stand next to Leia.

Harriet Walter

Best know for: Sense and Sensibility, numerous plays with Royal Shakespeare Company

Plays: Dr Kalonia

The role: Small but amusing. The Shakespearean actress who was made a Dame in 2011 plays the Resistance's doctor who tends to Chewbacca's wounds. He talks in Wookie and she cossets him with phrases like 'Yes, it does sound very frightening', and 'Yes, you were very brave'.

Greg Grunberg

Best known for: Heroes

Plays: Snap Wexley

The role: He's an X-wing pilot who gets a couple of lines (and, you know, flies an iconic spacecraft), so not a bad deal for someone only featured in the third act. Grunberg has appeared in loads of JJ projects as things like 'Sitcom Actor' in Super 8, 'Step dad (voice)' in Star Trek and 'Seth Norris (voice) Seth Norris (scenes deleted) and Seth Norris (uncredited)' in Lost. So... he's earned it.

Iko Uwais

Best known for: The Raid

Plays: Razoo Quin-Fee

The role: When it was announced that master Indonesian martial artist and star of The Raid films Uwais had a role in The Force Awakens, fans were excited - expecting crazed choreographed fight scenes. Unfortunately, gang member Razoo only has a brief exchange with Han Solo in an alien language before he's unceremoniously dispatched.

Rosie Fletcher

Rosie is the former editor of Total Film, before she moved to be the Special Edition Editor for the magazine group at Future. After that she became the Movies Editor at Digital Spy, and now she's the UK Editor of Den of Geek. She's an experienced movie and TV journalist, with a particular passion for horror.