As some of you may know, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen ("Hanninbal," "Casino Royale") was being courted by Lucasfilm for an important role in the studio's first entry into their "Star Wars" Anthology series "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."
Well, yesterday other actors in the film (which includes a diverse cast headlined by Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmen, and more) autographed a movie poster with their character names on it as well. Mikkelsen also signed the poster with his character name attached:
PIC: Actor Mads Mikkelsen revealed the name of his ROGUE ONE character in this signature to RFR listener J.J. Good. Does GALEN ring any bells?
Posted by RebelForce Radio on Saturday, September 5, 2015
Mikkelsen's character name is reportedly "Galen." Should that mean anything to you?
Galen Marek (codenamed "Starkiller") was an extremely powerful Force-sensitive Sith apprentice to Darth Vader in the now-defunct Star Wars Expanded Universe. Despite being on the Dark Side of the Force, Marek ended up helping the Rebel Alliance in their battle against the Empire in "Force Unleashed." With Vader rumored to be making an appearance in "Rogue One," is it possible that Mikkelsen's character could be the same as in the books?
The short answer: no. As soon as Disney purchased Lucasfilm, they immediately announced that the Expanded Universe was no longer considered canon. The most likely scenario is that they are just borrowing the name for a new character.
But then again, anything is possible in a galaxy far, far away.
J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will hit theaters on Dec. 18 and Gareth Edwards' ("Godzilla") "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" will follow on Dec. 16, 2016.
