Star Wars: Domhnall Gleeson wanted to further explore Hux’s character

When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters back in December, it revealed the fates of all the characters introduced in the latest trilogy of Star Wars films, and while some of them were gifted with happy endings, others weren’t so fortunate. General Hux is one of the characters whose end turned out to be tragic, though he arguably deserved his untimely demise after all the pain he caused out heroes.

Basically, in the final movie, Hux turned informant for the Resistance, feeding them info about the First Order. He didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart, though, only because he wanted to bring down Kylo Ren. But in the end, Allegiant General Pryde (Richard E. Grant) found out what he was up to and shot him dead.

That sounds like a pretty good story, and it would have been nice to get further insight into this Star Wars villain. And we’re not the only ones who think so. Domhnall Gleeson, who played Hux, revealed that he would have liked to explore his character in more depth before he was killed off — even if he does ultimately believe J.J. Abrams made the right call killing Hux when he did.

“It would’ve been nice to stick around a little bit longer, sure,” Gleeson told IndieWire in a recent interview. “It would’ve been nice to see the spy thing play out a little bit, but J.J. [Abrams] knows what he’s doing, and I heard a kind of gasp in the cinema when it happened, so I guess he was right.”

It’s a fair point that playing a double agent would have turned Hux into a more interesting villain, and it would have presented a conflict between the First Order and Kylo Ren, which opens all sorts of interesting political possibilities. Unfortunately, there probably wasn’t time for such a storyline in the already-packed conclusion to the Skywalker Saga. “The film is what the film needed to be, I think,” Gleeson said. “There’s always stuff that you would like to see more of, but you can’t have a 17-hour film, I’ve been told. Apparently that’s not allowed, so I was happy with what was there.”

Although we’re not totally against a 17-hour Star Wars installment, it’s understandable that the creative team for The Rise of Skywalker preferred to focus on major storylines and characters over minor ones like Hux. Even so, a more complex villain narrative would be a welcome addition to the franchise. Perhaps we’ll see it come to fruition in future projects, whenever those come around.

Also, no matter what version of Episode IX we got, Hux was always a goner. In concept art for original director Colin Trevorrow’s version of the movie, it looks like Hux impales himself with a lightsaber:

I guess Hux never had a chance.

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