Entertainment Weekly took a small closer look at the main hero of Rogue One, Jyn Erso, and her father Galen.
In Entertainment Weekly’s exclusive look at the main characters of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, we learned a little more about what we can expect from the female lead, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), and how her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) ties into the film’s overarching story.
“This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel” – Jyn Erso
As the first trailer for the film heavily implied, Jyn is a rebel, but not necessarily in the organized militant fashion of the Rebel Alliance. “She’s got a checkered past,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says. Working for the Alliance is a way for her to “commute her sentence,” which implies she’s caused trouble for the good guys as well as the bad. But by the end of the story, Kennedy says, she becomes a “Joan of Arc” figure. I’m hoping this means she gives in to a higher calling to morality and even spirituality (Donnie Yen’s character, Chirrut Imwe, believes in the Force and may pass on that faith to Jyn), and not that she’s going to become a martyr.
Taking the high road may prove difficult for Jyn, however, given the emotional stakes she has in her father, Galen Erso. Galen is a brilliant scientist who has discovered critical knowledge both the Empire and the Rebellion want. Whether that knowledge pertains to the Death Star still isn’t clear; judging by the trailer, the Death Star is nearly completed by the time the events of Rogue One take place, and it doesn’t seem smart of the Empire to leave out a critical component of their planet-destroying battle station until the last minute. But perhaps Galen gave them part of the information he discovered, realized what they were going to do with it, and then fled. Or maybe he worked on the Death Star and knows its secrets.
via Entertainment Weekly
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A secret is what Galen is more or less right now. The picture EW included of him in their Rogue One character article isn’t even of Galen himself. It’s just a picture of Mads in a button down shirt. His costume, for some reason, is being kept under wraps, along with how he and Jyn got separated, and what the nature of their relationship is now. Regardless, the fact Jyn has a family member at the heart of the conflict between the Alliance and the Empire, combined with Jyn’s unfavorable opinion of both factions, will up the stakes for and may even jeopardize the mission to steal the Death Star plans.
Unless, of course, she’s got a grudge against her father, in which case Galen has three enemies instead of just two.
The father/daughter dynamic is one we’ve seen little of in the Star Wars franchise. Ultimately, though, Star Wars is about family, and I’m happy to see even though Rogue One is being touted as a “war movie,” it will still contain that essential element: human relationships.
Next: Official Set Photos From Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Look forward to Star Wars Celebration Europe in July and the Rogue One panel there, where Kathleen Kennedy, director Gareth Edwards, and “special guests” will reveal new information (and hopefully new footage) of the film. Perhaps we’ll learn more of Jyn and Galen’s secrets then.