During a recent interview with Sky News, actor Mads Mikkelsen talked about his next two projects, which also happen to be two of the most anticipated movies of the year: Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. During the interview, he repeated several times that he is not allowed to say anything in particular about either of the movies, which is normal with major blockbusters in general, and Disney productions in particular.
So it was quite surprising when Mikkelsen revealed what kind of a role he'll play in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. If you don't want to be spoiled, then don't read beyond this point!
Obviously, Mikkelsen didn't actually name the character during the interview, even if he’d previously let it slip that the name is Galen (more on that later on). So, instead, he said that he plays the father of Jyn Erso, Felicity Jones' character.
One of the earliest rumors concerning Rogue One was that Mads Mikkelsen would indeed play the father of the lead female character, and that he will play the scientist who came up with the plan for the first Death Star. However, disgusted by what the Empire plans to do with it, he defects and joins the Rebellion, telling them where and how they can acquire the plans for this (first) ultimate weapon.
Returning to Galen, the character is well known in the EU, having been a former pupil of Darth Vader and having fought both Vader and Darth Sidious after turning good. He is basically an anti-hero, used by the Dark Side in order to hunt down any remaining Jedi Masters, between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
And Rogue One does take place in this timeframe. So is Mads Mikkelsen Galen? It seems likely - however, since Gareth Edwards said that there will be no major Force users in the movie, this leaves us with two possibilities.
The first one is that Mads Mikkelsen indeed plays a character named Galen, but one who is completely separate from the EU (thus, he’s indeed a scientist and not a powerful Force user). The second one is that he is indeed the Galen from the EU, but that he won't use any of his Force skills in the film.
What do you think?
