There’s a long history of characters having their roles reduced or cut entirely in Star Wars films, going right back to the original where Biggs, Camie and Jenny all had far bigger roles but saw themselves reduced to either minimal screen time or nothing at all. It may seem sad, but that reduction in role often elevates a minor character to mythical status, and while the current slew of film and TV won’t benefit the newer characters in anything like the same way, it will give them a certain allure as deep-diving fans try to learn as much about them as they can. A good example of this is the role of the Master Codebreaker, as played by Justin Theroux in The Last Jedi.
Speaking with Cinemablend, Theroux touched on the role of the Master Codebreaker, which originally was meant to be a far larger role.
It was one of those things. 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. 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!
And for a self-professed such as Theroux, a part in a Star Wars production was an opportunity he simply couldn’t miss out on.
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. 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.
