Remember when N'Sync was going to be a part of Star Wars Episode 2?

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The band was supposed to play Jedi Knights in two scenes: The Geonosis battle and a meeting between Kenobi and Yoda.

Chasez, Kirkpatrick and the Fatone brothers were given Jedi robes, shoes and Padawan braids, which were glued to the tops of their hair. "We all had the Jedi garb, the brown and tan robes," explained Steven. "This is freaking cool," Joey thought as he transitioned into a Jedi and the band was given lightsabers.

*NSYNC fully shot two different scenes that were later cut from "Attack of the Clones." The more involved footage featured them fighting droids in the climactic Geonosis battle.

"They kind of paired us off, it was actually me and my brother that were kind of fighting back-to-back for the big arena scene," said Joey. "They basically said, 'Pretend like you're fighting droids.'" Joey explained that there wasn't much direction given and they all just tried to figure out "what the hell [they] were doing," since they were essentially swinging at nothing.

The other scene included Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and a hovering Yoda. The two were filmed walking down a corridor as *NSYNC was supposed to just be standing there casually, talking amongst themselves. "A couple of Jedis hanging out," as Joey said.


While on set, the band fought on a green screen and had a hard time not making lightsaber noises with their mouths.

Steven described filming their Geonosis parts in "a gargantuan big, big green screen room" in one of the sound stages. The band members were given a stick with a "rubber, little lightsaber" according to Steven, and were told they could "do any kind of style you want, because later on we'll react the droids to what you did."

They were each shot for about 10 to 15 minutes and got really into being Jedis, but apparently had a problem with keeping their mouths shut. Joey said that his brother in particular would not stop saying, "vroom, vroom, vroom, shh, shh," as he swung the lightsaber around.

"I'm like, Steve, what the hell are you doing," Joey said. "You're making the lightsaber noises. Don't do that, because you can see your face on the screen." Joey thought it was "one of the funniest things" because it's what you do as a kid, but even when they were becoming actual Jedis, "it was like total jackasses doing this."

Steven's recollection of filming the scene is even more detailed. "Here I am, big fat frick Jedi Knight trying to be all cool, and I scissor kick, and the next thing you know -- I shite on myself," he told HuffPost. "It was pretty embarrassing."


Being huge "Star Wars" fans themselves, the band was upset when they got cut. Joey Fatone even confronted George Lucas.


So when the band was able to become actual Jedis, only to be cut out afterwards, they were a bit disappointed. Steven created a Photoshopped image of the band -- along with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake's girlfriend at the time, as Padmé Amidala -- joking about how they were "Banned from 'Star Wars.'" Joey later wore a shirt with this image to George Lucas' premiere for "Revenge of the Sith" and confronted the creator, who he'd previously met on set and backstage at *NSYNC concerts.

Joey jokingly asked Lucas what the deal had been and said, "I don't want to get into it, but what the frick? What the hell happened?"

"The whole thing felt surreal for us," Joey said about the filming experience. "Because of the fact that we were such huge 'Star Wars' fans, to be able to do something like that was pretty amazing."

It is unclear why they were cut, but it was probably a mix of SAG conflicts, as well as fan reactions to the rumor. "SNL" even parodied the now-confirmed myth.


"There is a mixture of two things," Steven said as he explained the band's theories as to why they were cut from the final film. The first, according to Steven, is that the entire "Star Wars" community blew up about Lucas inserting *NSYNC into their universe. Although it was mostly just rumors whether *NYSNC had actually shot footage at the time, the backlash led to "Saturday Night Live" making a parody of the event.


Regardless of whether or not the members of *NSYNC are true Jedis within the "Star Wars" universe, the Fatones certainly valued their time in a galaxy far, far away. "I wish I was able to have some sort of footage of that to be like, 'This is what I really did, I'm not lying, it happened,'" Joey mused. But he's still excited he'll be able to share this experience with his kids and their kids. It's a true Jedi Knight's tale.

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