‘Star Wars: Episode IX’: Richard E. Grant Claims the “Room Went Upside Down” When He Learned His Role

Richard E. Grant has yet to reveal what character he’ll be playing in Star Wars: Episode IX, though he recently teased that, upon learning the character’s identity, his whole world changed.

The actor recalled his audition process to The Telegraph, detailing he was “surrounded by all this Star Wars memorabilia going back to 1977. And within about two seconds, [director J.J. Abrams] said, ‘Are you gonna do it or not?’ And I said, ‘Do what?’ Then he described the part, and I think he told me what my name was, at which point the room went upside down.”

Grant’s comments seem to imply that, merely by learning he would be joining the galaxy far, far away, it was cause for excitement, yet his specificity of “I think he told me what my name was” and his comments about the room going “upside down” could be interpreted to mean that the actor recognized the name of the character. With fans yet to learn a title or see a single image from the upcoming sequel, we’ll just have to wait and see what Grant’s role in the film will be and if it will cause us to similarly experience a room going upside down.

Earlier this month, Grant talked about Star Wars on The Graham Norton Show, claiming that he wasn’t even allowed to tell his family the role he would be playing.

“Yes, I am in the last Star Wars. I have no idea [if I’ll be recognizable] because I’ve not even been allowed to tell my family what the name of my character is,” Grant shared on the talk show [H/T Express]. “If I told you I would get fired. We’re not even allowed to take the script home. There is a lot of security.”

Based on these comments, it could be inferred that whatever Grant’s character might be, he isn’t aware if it’s a famous character from a corner of the galaxy far, far away, as he is unable to ask people unfamiliar with the story if they know who his character is.

One of the earliest theories about Grant’s role in the film was that he was playing Grand Admiral Thrawn, a character who debuted in a series of Star Wars novels and was incorporated into Star Wars Rebels. Grant’s intimidating acting presence and the compelling nature of Thrawn seemed like a perfect fit for the character’s debut, though the actor has refuted those theories.

During a podcast appearance last year, Grant’s recollection of the casting process implied that he could be playing a member of the military.

“I got sent a 10-page generic sort of, I think, it was an interrogation scene clearly from a 1940s British B-picture because the references were not Star Wars and the language was something that my grandfather would have spoken in and I thought, you know, the three contrasting scenes that you were supposed to show as much versatility you could muster in a self-taping situation,” the actor shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “So I did that and sent it off and it goes into cyberspace and you don’t even think about it again because it’s what actors, you know, what you do all the time, you audition, send stuff out and never hear [back].”

Stay tuned for details on Star Wars: Episode IX, which lands in theaters this December.

Who do you think the actor could be playing? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!