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Mads Mikkelson Teases ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Role, Is He Playing The Villain?

By Gregory Wakeman
Published on: 14:38 PST, Feb 20, 2016

Because of the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, excitement regarding the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is at a fever pitch. Yet, with the film just under 10 months from release, we’re still really none the wiser about the names and details regarding Rogue One’s characters.

One of the actors in Rogue One is Mads Mikkelsen, the star of Hannibal and the Pusher film trilogy. It was previously teased that the Danish actor might be playing a villain in Rogue One, especially since he has done so throughout his career.

However, Mads Mikkelsen has now revealed that he won’t actually be playing the bad guy in Rogue One, telling a Danish news website, via Comic Book, “No, my character is actually not a bad guy, and then I cannot say more.”

Obviously, Mads Mikkelsen wouldn’t say too much about his character in Rogue One. However, the actor did make sure to insist that he’s both “vital” and “important” to Rogue One’s story.

There’s very little that we actually know about Rogue One, except that it’s set in between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, and Star Wars Episode VI: A New Hope. We’ve also been made privy to the film’s premise, which has revealed that it will revolve around a group of Rebel fighters coming together in the aftermath of the foundation of the Galactic Empire to try and steal the plans for the Death Star.

As well as Mad Mikkelsen, Rogue One will also star Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Medelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, and Jonathan Aris.

Meanwhile, Making Star Wars have also revealed a few new titbits regarding Jiang Weng’s character in Rogue One, predicting that he will actually be the “weapons enthusiast of the group.”

The website’s insider reported, “I’ve learned that Wen’s character is the weapons enthusiast of the group. He’s a first-class gun nut. He’s the kind of character that just as you think he’s exhausted his potential for violence, he pulls another weapon out of his boot (for example). He probably has as many concealed weapons as he does overtly visible ones (if not more).”

Earlier this month Bob Iger, the head of Disney and Lucasfilm, confirmed that Rogue One was already on the cusp of finishing filming. Speaking to Disney investors to provide them with an update on the Star Wars franchise, Bob Iger told Entertainment Weekly, “Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far.”

“This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we’re already in preproduction on our next one, for release in May of 2018,” Iger continued.

During this same conversation Bob Iger also spoke about the future of the Star Wars franchise, post the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which has so far grossed just under $2.1 billion across the world. It’s currently the third-highest grossing film of all time, just behind 1997’s Titanic and 2009’s Avatar, both of which were directed by James Cameron.

“There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products,” Bob Iger continued. “Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and it will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun.”

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been written by Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz and will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monster and Godzilla), while it will be released into cinemas on December 16, 2016.

[Image via Nordisk Film Distribution]

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