Jason Isaacs Says That He Would Return To 'Star Wars' If Given The Chance
Esteemed British thespian Jason Isaacs has been in many of the biggest film franchises that the world has ever seen. From his turn as the evil Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter, to the vaguely southern Captain Gabriel Lorca in the new series Star Trek: Discovery, to the villainous Grand Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels, he just needs to find his way into a The Lord of the Rings project to complete the set. So far, he hasn't been seen in any of them in the past couple of years, but that isn't for lack of desire.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, he made it clear that he is very open to the idea of returning to the Star Wars franchise, though not flippantly.
"It's always in script. There's no part I'm interested in, there's no people, no matter how much I admire them and I'm into them, it's always the script. It's always, what story am I telling? I wouldn't ever want to go milk something just to please the fans or my bank manager. I try and find something that has something in it that will make me entertained. There's all kinds of fab things that happen between cuts and action, being in lovely locations, or getting paid well, or being with friends, but at some point it's between action and cut that you have to focus on and I want to have something to do.”
He followed it up with,
"I don't want to just be in things because other people want to see them. I want to be able to play something. So, in all the things you've mentioned, I felt like I had something great to play. And, for instance, there's a clamor often for me to go back to Star Trek. Had a fantastic time on Star Trek, I loved all the people, I love being part of that universe, and Prime Lorca, the Prime Universe version of my captain, has yet to be found. But I wouldn't go back just to be in it, I'd go back if you had a great story to tell."
Honestly, this is a refreshing view to hear from an actor. A lot of them will just take a role for a simple paycheck or some notoriety. Movies and TV shows are first and foremost stories, and like most stories, some are great, and some are bad. Actors often cannot chose their roles, but seeing one that values the quality of the story over the numbers on the paycheck is rare.
Given the way that Disney and Lucasfilm are going with their Star Wars shows, any additional appearances would likely be live-action, and given his role, that would require being in the makeup chair for several hours. The look of the Grand Inquisitor is rather elaborate. In another interview with ComicBook.com, he admitted that it might be a bit of a hurdle for him.
"I’m not sure I’ve got the patience of Doug Jones who plays Saru in Discovery, who was the creature in The Shape of Water and stuff. I don’t know how many hours I’d like to spend in prosthetics."
With an ever-increasing amount of Star Wars shows being made, specifically live-action, the odds that we'll get an on-screen Grand Inquisitor are high. While it's no guarantee that Isaacs would be the one to portray him just because he was the voice actor (e.g. Ahsoka Tano's voice actress Ashley Eckstein being replaced with Rosario Dawson for the character's appearance in The Mandalorian), Isaacs does seem like he would be interested in returning to the role if the script was good enough. Since the shows are of high quality lately, that seems likely.
Source(s): ComicBook.com