The Mandalorian Reveals An Early First Order Villain
Brian Gleeson plays Brendol Hux in the newest episode of The Mandalorian; the father of Domhnall Gleeson's Armitage Hux of the sequel trilogy.
The Mandalorian: it isn’t just for setting up spin-offs anymore! According to RadioTimes.com the Disney+ series is now a platform for setting up the Star Wars sequel trilogy as well. The newest episode introduced audiences to Brendol Hux, a member of the Shadow Council and father of Star Wars sequel baddie Armitage Hux.
If the name Hux sounds familiar, that’s because Armitage Hux, played by Domhnall Gleeson, was the number three villain in two out of the three Disney Star Wars sequels. In Rise of Skywalker, he was suddenly a spy for the resistance because…movies?
Seriously, when it comes to the movie where Oscar Isaac says the infamous line “Somehow Palpatine returned,” it’s better not to ask questions.
In an effort to become a real-life version of the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme, The Mandalorian cast Gleeson’s real-life brother Brian to play Brendol. Why Jon Favreau and his Star Wars crew didn’t grab Brendan Gleeson–Domnhall and Brian’s father–to play the elder Hux is anyone’s guess. Feels like a missed opportunity, to be honest.
Despite Hux’s mother being mentioned in the painfully out-of-place “your mom” joke at the beginning of The Last Jedi, this is the first time Star Wars fans have seen anyone else in the Hux family on screen. Brendol isn’t a new character, however, having made his debut eight years ago in the novella The Secret Academy. The character also made appearances in the novels Bloodline, Aftermath: Life Debt, and Phasma before winding up on The Mandalorian.
Brian Gleeson hails from Ireland, like his brother and father. The actor has had roles in everything from the failed video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed to the gangster drama Peaky Blinders. Of all of Gleeson’s roles, however, only Star Wars baddie Brendol Hux carries the possibility of an action figure.
This isn’t the first time The Mandalorian has sowed the seeds that will eventually grow into the Star Wars sequel trilogy. A few episodes ago, the series presented the New Republic as bumbling and ineffectual as a way of retroactively making sense of why the Resistance exists in the time of the First Order. Though logic would have one assume that the official New Republic military would busy itself with quelling the First Order uprising, Disney made the odd decision to have them just ignore the threat, thus necessitating an underground resistance movement.
If none of that seems readily apparent when watching The Force Awakens, that’s because it isn’t. Star Wars has a history–even pre-Disney–of leaving it up to secondary material like books and games to explain plot inconsistencies. There is no doubt an issue of one of Marvel‘s Star Wars comics that explains in great detail how Hux overcomes his Nazi-like disdain for the Resistance enough to become a spy for them. It’s just too bad we didn’t get to see it on-screen.
Brendol Hux is bound to show up more in Ahsoka along with the rest of the Shadow Council, including its leader Grand Admiral Thrawn. Over time, the character may even usurp the popularity of his brother/son, although admittedly, that won’t be very hard. The Star Wars sequel trilogy ended up using Hux as nothing more than comic relief and a punching bag for Kylo Ren, both of which do not a fan-favorite character make.
The Mandalorian has one more episode before season 3 comes to an end. Will Brian Gleeson make another appearance on the Star Wars series as Brendol Hux before moving over to Ahsoka? If he does, hopefully, Din Djarin doesn’t make any jokes about his mother.
