Star Wars: The Last Jedi saw the appearance of multiple new characters like Rose Tico and DJ, as well as brief appearances by familiar faces like Yoda. The film briefly featured a “Master Codebreaker,” played by Justin Theroux, who recently confirmed that when he was originally approached about the small role, it was more substantial.
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“[Writer/director] Rian [Johnson] called me a couple of years before making it, and said, ‘Hey, there’s this character, blah, blah, blah.’ And I think over the course of the making the character became reduced, as they sort of locked in on what the overall thing was,” Theroux shared with CinemaBlend. “And then he sort of called me last minute, I’d sort of forgotten about it, and then he called me last minute and said, ‘Hey, it’s really essentially a cameo, and sort of a punchline. Would you like to come in and play this part?’ And I thought, ‘Sure, that’d be…’ I mean, come on!”
In the film, Maz Kanata tells Finn and Rose to find the Master Codebreaker so they can slice their way onto a First Order vessel, only to be apprehended by Canto Bight authorities after only catching a glimpse of the character. This chance encounter led the duo to DJ, who ultimately assisted them, before selling them out to the First Order.
Theroux didn’t elaborate on his character’s original role, though it’s possible the DJ character never existed in earlier versions of the script and the Codebreaker carried out these plans as Finn and Rose initially had hoped he would.
The star of The Leftovers had little more than a cameo, which is a trend recent Star Wars films have embraced. Star Wars: The Force Awakens featured famous faces like Daniel Craig and Simon Pegg, though the performers’ faces were never actually seen. Theroux was excited to not only be involved with the sequel in any capacity,but even more excited that his face was visible.
“There’s people who are dying to just put on a Stormtrooper outfit. And so it was great. I got one of the sort of more, to me, memorable scenes, with the hyper whacked out casino scene,” Theroux admitted. “Just to be on that set is just, obviously I’m a huge Star Wars fan and it’s a childhood dream. It was one of those ‘Come to London for a week, put on a costume, and also a crazy mustache, and do it.’ So it was fun.”
While the Master Codebreaker likely survived the events of The Last Jedi, we won’t expect to see him in Star Wars: Episode IX when it lands in theaters in December of 2019.
Do you wish we had gotten more time with the Master Codebreaker? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
