Star Wars: Episode IX – Richard E Grant Confirms Which Character He Won’t Be Playing

Star Wars: Episode 9 as we should all know by now, is currently in principal photography, we have been made aware of all returning cast members and any new additions already (far as we know). One of these new cast members seems to have triggered a lot of far-out fan theories, that being the casting of Richard E Grant (Logan).

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For some reason, (don’t ask me why) fans had started to predict or just wish that Grant would be playing a live-action version of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Don’t worry if you have never heard of that name before, if you have only watched the movies you wouldn’t have. Thrawn first appeared in a series of sequel novels set after the events or Return of the Jedi, this was a long time ago and the series in question was the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn.

After Disney Purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, one of the first things they did was de-canonize any novels set after Return of the Jedi. This meant that as of that point Thrawn no longer existed, however, the character then made an appearance in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, bringing him back into the canon. Rebels ended with Thrawn seemingly plummeting to his death along with the character of Ezra, but creator Dave Filoni has since said that Ezra survived, meaning there is a good chance Thrawn did as well.

I guess that armed with his news, and the fact that Richard E Grant is British and kind of stereotypically Imperial, fans began adding 2+2 and getting 5. To be critical of this theory, there really is nothing to suggest that JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm would look to suddenly drop a character this big into the final film of this new trilogy. If they were going to introduce Thrawn, then it would have made more sense for him to appear firstly in The Last Jedi or better still The Force Awakens. The other good reason for this not to happen is simply, that it would undermine the character of General Hux, who basically plays the officious Imperial senior officer role in this sequel trilogy.

Grant was recently asked about these rumors by UK publication Radio Times, specifically, they asked him if he would be playing Thrawn and here is what the veteran actor said.

“I’m not playing the Star Wars character you just mentioned. I’m not allowed to tell you anything. Otherwise I would be fired. It’s a complete lockdown on any information whatsoever.”

Now, if he was playing Thrawn, of course, he would have to keep that quiet, but the way the response is worded makes it sound like Grant has never even heard of Thrawn. With a severe lack of any evidence to support this theory, I think we can finally start shovelling the dirt onto the coffin of this one.

Now, I am not saying I wouldn’t have liked to see Thrawn in this trilogy, I would. In fact, I’d far rather have had Thrawn than the character of General Hux. I just don’t care for Hux, I didn’t like him in either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi, and for me, yes, Thrawn in that role would have been far more menacing and provided a real counterpoint to Kylo Ren. Hux is simply a brainwashed lap dog, Thrawn was so much more than that in the books. However, do I want to see him arrive suddenly with no set up in Episode 9? Hell no!

What do you think of Grant’s response, like me are you just glad to see this theory die, or are you still holding on to a fools hope it’s all a lie? Let us know in the usual place below.

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SOURCE: Radio Times

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