Mads Mikkelsen Insists He’s Not Rogue One’s Villain

In a new interview, Mads Mikkelsen reveals that he is not playing the villain in the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One.

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Does it weird anyone else out that we know so little about the forthcoming Star Wars anthology stand alone, Rogue One? With a release date that lines up almost exactly with last year’s Star Wars: the Force Awakens, we have only about nine more months until the movie hits theaters. And yet, I haven’t even seen an official character list for the movie. We’ve got a cast list, but exactly who these actors are playing are and what their relationship to each other is still remains mostly a mystery. All we know is the general synopsis, of an elite band of rebels stealing the Death Star plans, that it was inspired by Mon Mothma’s line “Many Bothans died to bring us this information,” and that yet, somehow, the production failed to go with the far more awesome title for the movie, Band of Bothans.

One character we do at least have a character name for is the one being played by Mads Mikkelsen. He revealed it back in September, when he signed himself “Galen.” Many assumed that Mikkelsen, who has been routinely typecast in the villain role, especially after his turns in Hannibal and Casino Royale, was playing the movie’s “Big Bad.” His stern Danish good looks would do well in an Empire uniform as well. But though Disney is using him to play the bad guy in Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange, when it comes to the Star Wars universe, it turns out that’s actually not the case.

Speaking to a Danish news site (and blessedly translated by ComicBook.com), Mikkelsen has broken the wall of silence surrounding the upcoming film–at least enough to tell us that his character is *not* the villain of the piece.

“No, my character is actually not a bad guy,” Mikkelsen told them when asked about villainy, “and then I cannot say more.”

Even though he’s not a bad guy, that doesn’t mean he’s a minor character either, or there as strangle fodder for Darth Vader (who is one of the few confirmed cameo appearances we know about in the film.). Mikkelsen promised his role was “vital” to the story.

So who is Galen? And how does he fit in? Could he be the mole inside the Death Star who helps the plans get stolen? Could he be a bad guy turned hero? Rogue One needs to start stepping up and delivering information on the forthcoming movie, and soon. Perhaps with The force Awakens finally starting to lose theaters this weekend, Disney will pivot to ramping up our next installment in the ever growing universe.