While folks are stilltrying to nail downexactly what scaly-eyed baddieMads Mikkelsenis playing inDoctor Strange,we’ve finally got an answer as to who the former Hannibal star plays inStar Wars: Rogue One. He’s playing…Jyn Erso’s (Felicity Jones) father. Of course he is, generational tales are classic Star Wars. Naturally, the actor was tight-lipped about any details (honestly, I’m stunned he even let this tidbit slide, especially considering the hoopla over Rey’s parentage), so we don’t know if Jyn’s pop is a good guy or a classic villain in the making. However, considering the franchise history of parent-child squabbles, Mikkelsen’s knack for sinister roles, and the fact that Jyn’s general demeanor doesn’t exactly scream peachy home life, there’s a good chance something’s rotten in Denmark.
Or maybe I’m just making a stupid joke because Mikkelsen is Danish, because honestly, there’s no way to know at this point. After all, he didn’t pop up in theoutstanding first trailer, which teased the epic stakes of the rebels mission to steal the Death Star plans. We did get a good look atBen Mendelsohn’stotally boss white-caped baddie,Forest Whitaker’smysterious armored warrior (maybe), and a glimpse atDonnie Yen,Jiang Wen,Genevieve O’Reilly’s characters. Like Mikkelsen,Alan TudykandRiz Ahmed’s characters remain sight-unseen. You can catch up with everything we learned with Dave’s comprehensivetrailer breakdown.
As for today’s reveal, it comes thanks to an on-air interview with Sky News, in which Mikkelson said, “Felicity Jones is playing this lovely young strong woman. I play her father, and…that’s too much, I’m sorry.” And it is a pretty big reveal, so I’m guessing either Mr. Mikkelsen slipped up or the folks at Disney want to make it clear that Rogue One is telling a very different story in contrast to the tradition of Star Wars lineage reveals. You can check it out and judge for yourself in the video below.
