There’s been a lot of speculation about who Richard E. Grant could be playing in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker since he joined the cast. As a well-respected British character actor in the Star Wars franchise, the odds were on him portraying a villain. Early on, fans were even hoping that he could bringing Star Wars Rebels‘ Grand Admiral Thrawn to life. However, Grant ruled out that possibility a while back.
Thanks to Vanity Fair’s first look at the upcoming Episode IX, however, we finally know the identity of Grant’s character: he’s an original creation for the movie by the name of Allegiant General Pryde. One of the photos from Annie Leibovitz gave us a taste of Grant in costume, capturing Pryde on a First Order spaceship with General Hux in the background. The composition of the image suggests that the stern-looking Pryde will be Hux’s superior, though that’s just speculation for now.
In any case, you can see the shot in the gallery below (which also includes some other recently released photos):
So, does this mean the unfortunate Hux will again have someone on his case? Back in The Force Awakens, Domhall Gleeson’s FO officer (first name Armitage) cut quite an imposing figure. However, come The Last Jedi, he morphed into Kylo Ren’s punching bag. Though initially disloyal to him, the new Supreme Leader of the order threatened him into submission. Is Pryde going to be another one to grind Hux under his boot? And if so, how much can Hux take before he cracks?
Of course, the Star Wars saga has always welcomed British stars of a certain age over to the Dark Side since Peter Cushing started the trend way back in A New Hope as Grand Moff Tarkin. Some other notable thespian fiends include Julian Glover as General Veers, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku and, of course, Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine.
Speaking of which, Darth Sidious himself looks to be appearing in the film as well, and you can catch him on the big screen when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker swoops into cinemas on December 20th.