Mads Mikkelsen Playing “Galen” in Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One?
While filming for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is currently underway, news on the production has been very quiet in order to focus all media attention on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Even then, actor Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, Hannibal) has quietly revealed (via RebelForce Radio) what could very well be his character’s name in the movie.
As we already know, Mikkelsen’s role is “very important” to the story of the theft of the Death Star plans, and that his character is not an antagonist. Now, it appears as though we know his character’s name – Galen – through an autographed poster that Mikkelsen signed featuring an underlined word beneath it. (Kit Fisto’s actor also signed the poster, listing his real name – Zac Jensen – above his character’s name.)
The name “Galen” has been used seven times in the Star Wars Expanded Universe before, and it has an especially important meaning for fans of Star Wars video games. Galen Marek was the real name to the protagonist of The Force Unleashed – a character who was better known by his call-sign, “Starkiller”. (This was done as a nod to the original surname of the character that would become Anakin Skywalker; the name is now being used in The Force Awakens as a moniker for a First Order base.) In The Force Unleashed, Galen Marek was Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, who ultimately became instrumental in the formation of the Rebel Alliance when he gathered various wealthy enemies of the Empire together (in a failed scheme from Emperor Palpatine to arrest, interrogate, and execute the future Rebel Alliance leaders).
That being said, I do not think that it is likely that Rogue One‘s Galen is a reimagined version of “Starkiller” at all. If they needed to use the character again, then it would be more likely that they would hire the character’s original voice actor/motion-capture actor, Sam Witwer (who recorded dialogue for The Clone Wars and recently made a cameo as Emperor Sheev Palpatine in Rebels). Furthermore, Mikkelsen is seventeen years older now than Witwer was when he recorded motion-capture and dialogue for the game – and since both The Force Unleashed and Rogue One take place at similar points in their respective versions of the Star Wars timeline, this discrepancy would be noticeable and pretty confusing to anyone familiar with both stories.
Galen Marek was also presented as being immensely powerful – pulling a Star Destroyer out of orbit and forcing it to crash and going toe-to-toe with both Darths Vader and Sidious. He was written as more of an escapist character than most characters within the Star Wars setting, and he was made extremely powerful to justify the over-the-top nature of The Force Unleashed‘s gameplay mechanics. He could have conceivably destroyed the entire Galactic Empire almost single-handedly if he hadn’t been taken off of the playing field (and quietly disappearing from the EU after the events of the sequel), so I think it is unlikely that such a character will ever appear in a Star Wars era that has already been established.
Given that director Gareth Edwards has stated that the Force will only have a minimal inclusion in Rogue One at best, it’s not likely that they would want to bring one of the most overpowered Force-sensitive characters in the Expanded Universe into a story focused on “the little guys” of the Galactic Civil War. In any event, I do think that this should be seen as a neat little nod to fans of the EU – and who knows? Maybe this new Galen will end up being as instrumental to the nascent Rebel Alliance in the new canon as the Sith-turned-Jedi was in the old canon! (On another note, between this and the reveal of the new helmets, it seems as though the production of Rogue One will be much less secretive than The Force Awakens once they get to advertising it – which should probably come across as a sigh of relief for the fans suffering from Mystery Box fatigue.)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will hit theaters on December 16, 2016.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
Edwards told , in the war, good people doing bad thing, bad people doing good thing. I suspect Mads playing Moff secretly supplys information for Rebel.
Wish they would get rid of ‘A Star Wars Story’ from this and never use it again.
Mad’s can do no wrong,the guys gold.
Yeah, it’s redundant.
Sound lazy,too sentimental and childish.
Star wars anthology was so much better 🙁
The name is still being used for collections of films – the movies, as a whole, will be called the “Star Wars Anthology” series. I think this is just a marketing thing.
– Pomojema
Whatever he is, I’m sure he will be the hell of a role!
Incredible to think that there are currently 3 different Star Wars movies in some kind of production (pre, current and post). Good times.
I suppose there is 4 because the Han Solo movie’s script is complete… I don’t know if you’d count that though.
4 movies it is then. /:o)
The original “Star Wars” (episode 4) movie broke new ground, Ep5 went to the next level… Is “The Force Awakens” really breaking new ground, and will Episode 8 truly *go to the next level*? I. Don’t.
I think TFA is going to be a good film. A really strong opener that sets up for the trilogy, but I think Episode 8 is where the series could ‘break new ground’.
I watched ‘Looper’ again very recently, Episode VIII is in very safe hands.
TFA will be a huge improvement over the prequels, so that’s worth something..
Not on content, as far as I can see…
Impossible to say, but judging from what we have seen so far from Episode VII (teasers, bts, the extended EW spread), it’s looking damn good. J.J and his crew have basically taken everything that worked in the previous movies and discarded what never. To me, it looks like the magic is coming back.
Have not seen it so a little hard to say. From all the behind the scenes footage it looks like they are making a great Star Wars film which is groundbreaking enough for me. Lucas broke ground and went full digital cameras for AOTC and while breaking that ground he used cameras that could not produce near the great picture that film could. So the quality of the film suffered greatly on that front. So I have no problem with JJ using the tools that work.
A Star Wars Story makes me think of those Little Golden Storybooks… Stories for children. I liked Anthology MUCH better. I also wonder what this item is. It can’t be a movie poster because with the movie still in production, I cannot be rated yet (PG). It better be PG13. Wondering if this is a fake.
That’s exactly what I was thinking it sounds like a kids book. I really hope we don’t go thru this mystery box all over again with rogue one. It’s draining
Mads is one of the more exciting castings to come out of this new era of Star Wars especially with him not being a villain. He was a cool hero in that Arthur movie from a while back.
Finally you joined the dark side and gave in to disqus. I thought the day would never come
Cool! I really hope Rogue One will be a bit less secretive, as well as Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. We don’t really know how Johnson will handle it?
The context of the autograph is still kinda…vague. Like, when was it signed, and was it just a poster that the fan brought to several SW actors to sign?
I have a good feeling about this!!!!
What poster is this? I’m assuming an old SW one since it says rated PG and the MPAA hasn’t even rated Episode 7 yet, let alone rouge one
Another for the disambiguation page!
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galen
Personally I am putting my money on Galen Torg.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galen_Torg
It’s Picards alter ego..ST & SW merger confirmed
I noticed in the Anthology list you had Rogue One, Han Solo then Boba Fett and now its gone…
Did Uncle Walt drop you a line and ask you to keep your info private for a bit longer?
Nope.
Boba Fett is unconfirmed. It’s likely that it will happen eventually, but it’s not completely confirmed.
– Pomojema
I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth
http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131108184057/degrassi/images/0/0f/MFW%2Bpiss%2Bshivers_d8f62c_4572225.gif
Is it just me or is the text hidden except for links to other articles?
It ain’t just you. We’re working on fixing it now.
That’s great to hear 🙂
Sorry if this has already been covered on the site, but the Blade Squadron short story on StarWars.com (http://www.starwars.com/news/blade-squadron-part-one) includes some interesting concept art. This one in particular looks very reminiscent of Mikkelsen.
That character was acknowledged by the artist to have been directly drawn from Mikkelsen’s Bond character. However, Mads has said he is not playing a villain. Maybe he becomes a bad guy?
Or maybe he’s an undercover agent.
We don’t know if it is a first or last name. Probably first…
He could be a Galen Marek clone who is not Force-sensitive but it is unlikely.
It is a fairly popular name in sci-fi series and movies. The Babylon 5 spin-off series ‘Crusade’ has a main character with this name.
Is it a Rogue One poster? So Kit Fisto is a survivor? 🙂
In Star Wars everyone can be a survivor if he is not cut into small pieces on screen. 🙂
“Annikin Starkiller” became Luke, not Anakin.
It doesn’t matter that Mikkelsen is older than Witwer was when he did the force unleashed because it’s not canon.
I am truly convinced that this Rogue One movie will be better than TFA: it won´t be a reboot of anything.
“The name is now being used in The Force Awakens as a moniker for a First Order Base.”
I think it’s likely that the base goes by the same name as the new super weapon it is housing in the film. I think “Starkiller” will be a take on the “suncrusher” from Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy. The sun crusher was a virtually indestructible one-man fighter that was designed to destroy a star, taking out the entire system with it. Great write-up, Pomojema… I also doubt Mikkelsen will be Galen Marek, but it’s a nice nod nonetheless, especially if his character is influential in having started the Rebellion.
So maybe this is answered in the article that I didn’t really read all of, but could “Galen” just mean something in Madz native language. And maybe we just assume since he autographed it, that it must be his character name?
He is Danish. I am Norwegian myself, and since Danish and Norwegian (and Swedish) are like dialects of the same language, I believe I am qualified to answer.
I don’t think Galen means anything interesting in Danish. “Gal” (or indeed “galen” in one version of Norwegian) could mean “wrong” or “mad, crazy”. No reason for Mads to sign with such a word, so I would definitely assume that this is his character name.
It is cool that there have been nods to the old EU in the new continuity but unfortunately I think that TFU and that storyline is completely dead. Maybe they revive it down the line as a comic to complete the story but right now for the foreseeable future I think Disney/Lucasfilm is focused on the new canon.
The Kit Fisto signature is Phil Lammar. Here’s the whole poster. @loafandjug
A long time ago in a galaxy jar, jar away. I tremble.
Interesting poster… Very interesting…
Canon or not, Sam Witwer used the name ‘Starkiller’ in the top left hand corner next to ‘Maul’ (TCW)…
I seriously doubt that they will bring in anything from Force Unleashed. I think that stuff is now relegated to the bin.