Dominic Monaghan Reflects on His ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Experience
Dominic Monaghan had a small part in The Rise of Skywalker as Beaumont Kin, a scholar with an interest in the ways of the Force, turned Resistance soldier.
Talking to Sci-Fi Fantasy Gazette, the actor discussed his time working on the ninth and final film in the “Skywalker Saga.”
With The Rise of Skywalker, Dominic Monaghan joined the list of Bad Robot (and more specifically, Lost) alumni who had roles as Resistance personnel in the sequel trilogy, joining the likes of Ken Leung as Ushos O. Statura in The Force Awakens and Greg Grunberg as Temmin “Snap” Wexley in both The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. (He’s incidentally the only surviving character out of the three Lost actors, as Statura died offscreen at some point during the events of The Last Jedi and Wexley’s was shot down during the Battle of Exegol.) Monaghan notes that part of the reason he got the gig was due to his friendship with Abrams and trying to figure out where he could be included after The Force Awakens.
“I’m really good friends with J.J. [Abrams] and I’d been giving him a hard time for a while about putting me in Star Wars and we eventually figured something out. It was great to be on set with those iconic characters and it was a really fun experience for me. I’m always supportive of J.J.’s work because he’s someone I’ve seen working up close on set, and he’s about as talented as anyone else.”
Since his character survived the events of The Rise of Skywalker, Dominic Monaghan has a window to appear in works set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. While he states that he hasn’t caught up with his character’s recent appearances in tie-in media, including the recently-released Shadow of the Sith novel, he is open to appearing in future works if he is needed:
“It’s a fun Galaxy to hang out in and, who knows, perhaps at some point they’ll tell more stories about the character I played and I can do it again. I’ve been told by a lot of people online that he’s been featured in these new Star Wars comics and graphic novels and novels about the Star Wars canon. So, Beaumont is still alive and well and doing his thing… I’m always available if they’re interested.”
Beaumont Kin was originally meant to be part of a running subplot throughout The Rise of Skywalker at the Resistance Base, which would have given him more scenes alongside “Snap” Wexley, Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), and Kaydel Ko Connix (Billie Lourd), but this story element was cut down in order to keep the focus on the big adventure with Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Even if a good chunk of his scenes were cut from the released film, Dominic Monaghan is grateful for the opportunity to be included in one of the most groundbreaking science-fantasy franchises put to film:
“The Star Wars franchise is extraordinary and really moulding in terms of the modern-day industry of making films, certainly in the West… The reason that I became an actor was Star Wars, so it was great to come full circle. I had a blast.”
Time will tell if we see Dominic Monaghan make his return to a galaxy far, far away, but he clearly enjoyed his experience being part of the Star Wars saga.
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.
