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Actor Mads Mikkelsen shared his experience of being cast in Star Wars: The Rogue One at a panel discussion of Star Wars Celebration 2025.
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who appeared in the role of Galen Erso in the 2016 film of the franchise Star Wars: The Rogue One, has revealed that he was not one of the people who had followed Star Wars diligently. In fact, when the production company, LucasFilm, had approached him with this role, Mikkelsen did not have any context about it, as he mentioned at the event:
"..Had no idea what they were talking about."
Let us find out what more Mads Mikkelsen reveals about his experience being cast as Galen Erso in Star Wars: The Rogue One.
“I had not watched a Star Wars film when I got the job,” says Mads Mikkelsen on being cast in Star Wars: The Rogue One
At the panel discussion at the event of Star Wars Celebration 2025, Mads Mikkelsen revealed that before landing the role of Galen Erso in Star Wars: The Rogue One, he was not well-versed in the world of Star Wars.
The 2016 film served as a prequel to the 1977 OG film and was also marked as the first part of its compilation series. In fact, Mads Mikkelsen had not even watched the 1977 film Star Wars, as he revealed:
“I had not watched a Star Wars film when I got the job,”
When LucasFilm had approached him with the role of Galen Erso in Star Wars: The Rogue One, Mikkelsen explained:
“Had no idea what they were talking about. And the climax was, ‘And you are the inventor of the Death Star.’ And I went, ‘Alright?’ It didn’t dawn on me until much later that it was the Death Star, right?”
Mikkelsen then proceeds to share an anecdote. He recalls a moment during Christmas when his brother, Lars Mikkelsen, had received a Lego gift of Star Wars, as he continued:
“I’m celebrating Christmas with my brother and his family and my brother got a gift which was the Death Star in Lego, right?”
“And he immediately left the table and started building. And he just went on and on and I realized, ‘Hold on. I invented it. I can help him build it.”
Interestingly, his brother Lars Mikkelsen, who is also an actor, has been a part of the Star Wars world too. Apart from being an ardent fan of the franchise, Lars Mikkelsen has portrayed the role of Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Star Wars TV series Ahsoka (2023). He has also lent his voice to the character for the animated series of the franchise, Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018), and Tales of the Jedi (2024).
Mads Mikkelsen's character, Galen Erso, is a gifted scientist who had primarily prepared the Death Star, something that he was forced into. However, Erso has covertly added a weak point to a superlaser. He is the father of Jyn Erso.
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