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What We Know About Galen Erso From The Final Rogue One Trailer

By Elaine Tveit

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We finally got a glimpse at Mads Mikkelsen’s character, Galen Erso, in the final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Here’s what we know about him.

The final full trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story revealed there is more raw emotion to this movie than the previous trailers suggested. A big part of this emotional aspect of the film is a character we knew of before the final trailer dropped, but whom we had not actually seen in action on-screen. Now that we have seen him, it’s more obvious than ever that Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso is going to be an important player in the Rogue One story.

Below are GIFs of Galen taken from the trailer above. First up is Galen being confronted by Director Orson Krennic and his deathtroopers.

Image Credit: David Harris

Next is a touching scene between Galen and his daughter, a young Jyn Erso. Galen says, “Whatever I do, I do it to protect you. So you understand?” Jyn answers, “I understand.”

Image Credit: David Harris

It is not clear what is going on in this next scene. It appears Galen has either been beaten down to his knees or has been forced to kneel to the person he is looking at.

Image Credit: David Harris

Here’s what we know about Galen Erso:

  1. He is Jyn Erso’s father.

  2. He is a scientist, and his research focuses on energy.

  3. When Jyn was still a child during the Clone Wars, Galen, his wife Lyra, and Jyn were rescued by Director Krennic from a Separatist-controlled planet. In return, the Ersos, who are both scientists, work for the Empire.

  4. When they first start to serve the Empire, Galen and Lyra don’t realize they are part of a cruel regime. They figure this out in the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst by James Luceno. The book will, presumably, tell us how Galen came to willingly work on the Death Star for the Empire, what happens to Lyra, and how Jyn gets separated from her father.

  5. Galen will have a large role in Rogue One, as he is one of the scientists working on the Death Star.

  6. He is important to both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

Mads Mikkelsen is a skilled actor with an incredible presence. You can’t ignore him when he is on the screen. He just has this enigma about him, a sort of sad look in his elegant facial features that makes you think he is playing someone interesting and important. It’s a sort of “burdened with glorious purpose look” (to quote Loki from The Avengers).

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More than his role as a scientist working for the Empire (perhaps against his will; we won’t know till we read Catalyst or even until we watch Rogue One), I am excited to see his relationship with Jyn. We haven’t seen father-daughter relationships in Star Wars all that much. It’s a new dynamic which keeps up the tradition of family drama in Star Wars.

Jyn clearly knows about Galen in the final trailer, so we can assume there will be a confrontation between them at some point. Perhaps she convinces  him to give over the Death Star plans to the rebels. Or perhaps he contacted the rebels himself to tell them where and how they could collect the plans. It’s hard to tell when a character has conflicting loyalties, whose side they will end up on.

Next: What's Up With That Statue On Jedha In The Final Rogue One Trailer?

Keep checking Dork Side as we continue to analyze the final Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer, and look for Catalyst on your local bookstore shelves on November 15th. Rogue One premieres in theaters December 16th.

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