‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Star Mads Mikkelsen May Have Already Revealed His Character Name

There’s a healthy amount of secrecy and intrigue surrounding the new Star Wars universe, with Disney and Lucasfilm taking a very measured approach to how much information they reveal to fans — and when. As of now, we know very little about Star Wars: Rogue One, the first in the studio’s planned series of anthology films. Mads Mikkelsen may have just given us one clue to what’s in store with Gareth Edwards’ standalone story, and he may have done it in a pretty unlikely (and sort of banal) way.

Mikkelsen was in attendance at a fan convention in Toronto over the weekend, where he signed a poster for a Star Wars fan, who then posted the image on Twitter. The fan also got Phil LaMarr, who voiced Kit Fitso in The Clone Wars animated series, to sign his poster — you’ll note that LaMarr wrote his character name under his signature, and that Mikkelsen also wrote a name under his signature:

Is “Galen” the name of the character Mikkelsen is playing in Rogue One? Here’s where it gets interesting: there is already a Galen in the Star Wars universe. Galen Marek was the main character in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game, a guy who harnesses the power of the Force and becomes Darth Vader’s apprentice, operating under the name Starkiller.

But The Force Unleashed was part of the Expanded Universe, which Disney and Lucasfilm have now excised from official Star Wars canon. Those books, games and other stories are now viewed as supplemental, but their narratives and characters are no longer part of the official ongoing story.

Disney and Lucasfilm could be backtracking a little — either cherry-picking characters from the previous Expanded Universe to incorporate into the new canon, or they could simply be taking inspiration and re-purposing Galen Marek for the new universe as a nod to the old.

Or maybe Mads Mikkelsen is a fan of The Force Unleashed and thought it would be fun to use the name Galen since he can’t share any real details from Rogue One. We probably won’t know much about the film or who he’s playing until next spring. As of now, we do know that the film centers on a group of salvager rogue types who come together to pull off a heist and steal the plans for the Death Star.

Star Wars: Rogue One hits theaters on December 16, 2016.