Domhnall Gleeson Talks About General Hux, His Mysterious STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Character

Movie Domhnall Gleeson Star Wars: The Force Awakens about 8 years agoby Ben Pearson

Domhnall Gleeson is one of my favorite young actors right now. He's been working for nearly fifteen years and got a big break playing Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter films before gaining my attention with his work in About Time, Frank, and Ex Machina. He's not a household name yet, but that could change when Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out this December, because he's playing the villainous General Hux in J.J. Abrams' anticipated sequel. As with a lot of Force Awakens-related things, we still don't know too much about his character for sure, and though he didn't do much to change that in a new interview with Total Film (via GamesRadar), the actor did open up a little:

"Yeah, I mean you look at him and you realise he’s not a good guy! He’s got an English accent so he can’t be good.”

Abrams has referred to General Hux as "merciless" before, and Gleeson echoed that sentiment before wondering if even that tiny description might be too much information. "Is that what [Abrams] said?" he asked.

Abrams has also spoken about what it was like walking on the set for the first time, and it sounds like Gleeson had a similar experience:

"That does sort of take your breath way," he grins. "That’s one of those ‘pinch me’ moments. I experienced it in a major way on Harry Potter and it’s a similar thing with Star Wars, except you look down and you’re in the gear and you have stuff to say and you’re like, ‘Holy God.’ And yes, it’s very difficult to remain cool about stuff like that. There’s no two ways about it, it’s totally brilliant."

But all of that was just an added bonus for him, since all he really cared about was tackling the type of character audiences hadn't seen him play before:

"Yeah, it’s fun to do different things. I hadn’t played anybody like that before. Star Wars is amazing, J.J. Abrams is amazing, but the thing to do was play something different. That’s what got me really excited."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (finally) arrives on December 18th.