Richard E. Grant reveals his 'Star Wars: Episode IX' role and complete plot... sort of
Richard E. Grant has played characters on Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, and Downton Abbey — but his upcoming role in Star Wars: Episode IX is exposing him to a new level of fan frenzy. The actor, who developed an immediate cult following after his debut in the 1987 English comedy Withnail and I, has been careful to keep details of his Star Wars part under wraps. But in a conversation with Yahoo Entertainment, Grant told all — or at least, we think he did. Watch the video above.
Grant, who co-stars with Melissa McCarthy in the based-on-a-true-story drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?, told us that he has vivid memories of seeing Star Wars: A New Hope in theaters.
“I saw the first one when I was a drama student in 1977. So if you told me then … that four decades later I would actually be in the ninth, sort of final one of the whole arc of it, I would have said that you were either on drugs or certifiable,” Grant told Yahoo. “So I’m astonished that I’m in it.”
Naturally, fans have been speculating wildly about Grant’s role, even walking up to him in the street to offer their guesses. Many websites conjectured that he’d been cast as the blue-skinned Rebels villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, a theory that Grant shut down in an interview this summer. It’s just as likely that he’s playing a new character in the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel — though given his impeccable bone structure and posh accent, he seems like he could be a natural descendent of Peter Cushing’s Imperial villain Grand Moff Tarkin. Or perhaps he’s method enough to play a porg? Unless we get very good at lip reading, we’ll find out in December 2019.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? opens in theaters on Friday.
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