Another Rogue One star wants to be in the Disney+ Star Wars prequel
Exclusive: The King’s Ben Mendelsohn, who played baddie Krennic in the spin-off movie, is open to joining Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk in their upcoming series
Among the many Disney+ series coming to the streaming platform in the coming months and years, the Star Wars series based on 2016 movie Rogue One (and being made after launch title The Mandalorian) is one of the most mysterious.
Starring Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, the series follows the earlier years of their Rogue One characters Cassian Andor and K-2SO, who played key roles in the Star Wars prequel alongside Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso – and while we don’t know exactly who else will be joining their adventure, one of their other Rogue One co-stars says he’s keen to join their efforts.
“I would. Ostensibly, I would,” Ben Mendelsohn, who played villain Orson Krennic in Rogue One, told RadioTimes.com when asked if he’d join the prequel.
“Being in Star Wars is the purest thing. Working with Spielberg on Ready Player One was pretty huge, but in terms of feeling like the cat that got the cream, there's nothing that comes close to Star Wars.”
Speaking about the potential of the prequel, he added: “Star Wars is like the ultimate rock opera space soap, and it's a lot like a Tolkien book as well, in the depth and the degree of its mythology, and the branches of it. And it's got endless room, to go here and go there, if they want, in this series. It’s a great testament to it.”
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In fact, Mendelsohn – who has appeared in an unusually high number of big-budget franchises including Batman and Marvel movies – says that it’s still Star Wars that gets him the most attention thanks to the passion of the fans.
“Star Wars is watched in a particular way,” he told us. “Its fans are very locked in. Its fans are at a different level to the ones I know about in the Marvel sphere.
“I went to [Star Wars] Celebration here, and that was f***ing awesome. And I also bring my own Star Wars fandom to the piece. So I'm sort of aware of the degree to which Star Wars is in the culture.”
Elsewhere, Mendelsohn has worked on many projects on stage, screen and streaming, from Bloodline and Ready Player One to The King, now streaming on Netflix, where he plays King Henry IV – and no matter how big or small the part, or the project, he says he approaches each one the same.
“If you're doing the s**tiest training video, or Star Wars, or the world's most expensive film, the core is always the same,” he said.
“It's always a camera, people in front of the camera doing whatever they're doing, someone behind the camera going 'not good enough - go again.' That always stays.
“So they're all pretty similar in that way. Whatever it is. It's just the quality of the people working on it, and the competence of the people making it, behind them.”
So will Ben Mendelsohn actually be in this Disney+ series? Well, its possible - Cassian and K-2SO might have run up against him before, after all - and if he does, you can be sure he'll put the work in.
Ben Mendelsohn stars in The King, streaming on Netflix now
