Playing a legacy character in the Star Wars universe doesn’t always guarantee a recurring role across the franchise, especially if the figure in question has met a canonical end, one that would run the risk of irritating the fanbase were it to be altered.
However, the Grand Inquisitor is a villain that’s long been touted for a live-introduction, with the Rebels favorite set to do just that in upcoming limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Rupert Friend is the man under the makeup, and in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor admitted he’d love to become a recurring fixture of a galaxy far, far away.
“Well, it’s a really good point because one of the things I’m loving about seeing the Star Wars universe unfold and expand is that crossover thing. It’s seeing characters who are in a limited world, are crossing over into a movie or back into a game, even. And I think that the characters are so thoroughly created and so exciting to watch that the world lends itself to that sort of crossover.
So I would be completely open to it. I loved playing the part and would love to see what happened if he were to interact. Or, if you read his kind of timeline, there are some really fascinating things where he is turned into a hologram, and he decides to jump to his own death because he says that there’s some things that are worse than death, referencing Vader’s punishment. And obviously our period doesn’t cover that. So if they decide to explore that, I would think that would be pretty thrilling.”
Of course, it’s all dependent on where the nefarious Jedi hunter ends up by the time Obi-Wan Kenobi draws to a close, but it’s not as if Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Deborah Chow, and the rest of the key creatives are against ladling on the fan service, either.