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The Perfect Villain

Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Orson Krennic gives Star Wars its most realistic bad guy.

Robert Rackley
Robert Rackley
— 1 min read

As I get ready to watch Andor: Season 2 this weekend, I appreciate this piece by Jim Vorel in Paste that serves as kind of ode an to Orson Krennic, this season's villain.

He has long been my favorite modern era Star Wars villain, and Andor season 2 is the perfect excuse to remind the world of why Krennic is such a fantastic character for this setting: Not because he’s an evil genius, but because he’s such a perfectly pathetic, bootlicking rube. In a fictional universe where the bad guys are typically overpowered space wizard warlords or cooly calculating strategists, Krennic is neither: He’s an entitled, petulant bureaucrat driven by a pathological need for praise and recognition, constantly being shown up and embarrassed by superiors and heroes who are far smarter than him. Which is to say, Orson Krennic is easily the most realistic of Star Wars villains, the guy who best encapsulates the worst aspects of our own society.

Vorel doesn't miss how well suited the character is to represent the kind of bumbling villainy we see in our current circumstances. Ben Mendelsohn was pitch perfect as Krennic in Rogue One. After his absence in the first season of Andor, I'm very much looking forward to seeing him reprise the role. Maybe his portrayal of such a relatable bad guy will even help to soften the blows that seem to come daily now from the baddies in the news. Who knows, perhaps this on-screen villain will even humanize the real ones in our lives.

Ben Mendelson as Orson Krennic (source: Disney)
Ben Mendelson as Orson Krennic (source: Disney)
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Robert Rackley

Robert Rackley

Mere Christian, aspiring minimalist, inveterate notetaker, budget audiophile and paper airplane mechanic. Self-publishing since 1994. Fan of the open web.

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