As fans continue to process the announcement that Diego Luna will be reprising his role as Cassian Andor for a Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel series, the question has been posed to professional screen baddie Ben Mendelsohn of whether he sees any potential in the backstory of Orson Krennic.
The actor was attending the premiere of the new Robin Hood movie – in which Mendelsohn adds the Sheriff of Nottingham to his villain-heavy résumé – when he was asked by CinemaBlend if there’s a particular section of Krennic’s life that a prequel might focus on.
“If they were going to do a prequel, if they were wanting to see Orson, I would imagine that the interesting period of Orson would be Orson as a 20 – 30 something, rather than the Orson that we’ve already encountered. I think probably the interesting period for Orson is as he goes from an idealist to where he ends up. But I think that would be the job for another actor.”
Since the character was in his 50s when he died, it doesn’t sound like the Cassian Andor show will have many opportunities to depict a Krennic in his 20s, but assuming Lucasfilm’s transition to the small screen isn’t a passing phase, surely we can’t rule out this possibility for future projects.
As it stands, we still have much to learn about the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel show, with Luna himself even claiming last week that he knows as much as we do. Meanwhile, the project’s Disney Plus companion The Mandalorian looks to be a fair bit further into its creation, with one recent set video showing Thor: Ragnarok helmsman Taika Waititi directing the season finale.
While we’ve known about that particular Star Wars spinoff for a fair while longer than Cassian’s series, casting announcements have only just started to come our way, with roles reportedly in place for action star Gina Carano and Pedro Pascal of Narcos fame. At this rate, The Mandalorian will be the first live-action series of the Star Wars property, so here’s hoping it makes a strong first impression before Diego Luna makes his return to this ever-expanding galaxy.