‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Rumored Villain Stays Mum on Details; Production for Han Solo Spinoff Film Begins Right after Reshoots

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ will feature Ben Mendelsohn in a yet unconfirmed role. He is rumored to be a villain but remained mum on details when asked about his character. Meanwhile, production for the planned Han Solo spinoff film is scheduled to begin after reshoots for ‘Rogue One’.

According to HitFix, Mendelsohn recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to discuss his involvement on the upcoming first installment in the ‘Star Wars’ anthology of films but remained mum on details of his new character.

When asked about how long he had to keep his involvement in the new film a secret, Mendelsohn replied, “Oh, it felt like forever… months and months and months and months.” When asked if he told anyone else, he joked, “The worse thing is, right, you’re walking down the street and you see some kid in a Star Wars t-shirt something like that, you’ll be like “I’m in that… whether you know that or not”... Whatever. You’ll see.”

Finally, when asked if he uses the Force in the new movie, he only did a vague mumble and shrugged. Kimmel acknowledged that the actor couldn’t talk about his character in depth but continued to prod for more details in hopes of finding out if Mendelsohn was indeed a villain or a good guy in the upcoming film. Mendelsohn continued to stay elusive with a series of nods and shrugs.

Mendelsohn admitted that he was a huge fan of the space opera franchise in his childhood. He said, “I mean I was right at that sweet spot – you know I was like 7 or something when the first one came out. I fell in love – the whole box and dice… I had the, you know, the trading cards, the gumball, the baseball cards… I had all that stuff. I can still remember the most important one. It was very rare. This Han Solo and Chewie firing down an alleyway together and I got two of them.” He reminisced that he spent a lot of money as a kid on the franchise’s merchandise.

According to Comic Book Resources, the 47-year old actor is rumored to be playing a character named Director Krennic, a commander of a large portion of the Imperial Fleet. Mendelsohn is best known for his work on films such as ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘Animal Kingdom’, ‘Killing Them Softly’, and ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’.

He also stars in the Netflix original thriller-drama series ‘Bloodline’, where he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Support Actor in a Drama Series as well as a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Meanwhile, The Week reported that production for the planned Han Solo spinoff film will begin after reshoots for ‘Rogue One’ wrap. Veteran writer Lawrence Kasdan revealed that production is scheduled to commence on January next year in London.

He said, "Chris Miller and Phil Lord are going to direct it. They’re great, funny and imaginative and we’ve had a great time together. My son [Jon] and I wrote the script and Chris and Phil are working on it and they’re about to move to London to start shooting in January. And it should be fun."

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film scheduled to premiere on December 16, 2016 in the United States. It is produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe of films shortly before the events of ‘A New Hope’.