Why Domhnall Gleeson Has Trouble Remembering His Star Wars Lines

Hux in The Force Awakens

It's many actor's dream to join the Star Wars franchise, given the property's iconography and massive fanbase. Everyone from established actors like Laura Dern to newcomers like Kelly Marie Tran have expressed their excitement over joining the galaxy far, far away. But there's still downsides to these jobs, including dodging questions on red carpets, and using super secretive scripts. Actor Domhnall Gleeson has played General Hux since Star Wars: The Force Awakens, functioning as an amusing foil to Adam Driver's villainous Kylo Ren. But it turns out Star Wars scripts usually throw Gleeson for a loop, mostly because of the detailed sci-fi talk and futuristic weaponry. As he tells it,

I do on Star Wars. Hard to remember lines on Star Wars. Yeah. That [technobabble], like a bunch of words in a row that normally aren't in a row. And it's to do with information as opposed to, you know, connecting to somebody. You know what I mean? That kind of stuff can be hard.

While Domhnall Gleeson has worked in iconic franchises like Harry Potter, it seems that General Hux's complicated Star Wars lingo can get him mixed up on set. But the actor is obviously able to overcome, because any difficulty didn't translate to the finished product of either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi.

Aside from listing off some of the galaxy's most complicated technical and mechanical devices, Domhnall Gleeson's characterization of Hux has also been fascinating through his first two appearances in the Star Wars franchise. Hux functioned as a tertiary antagonist in the first film, although his monologue to the First Order troops was bone chilling. He became more of a comical figure in The Last Jedi, and now J.J. Abrams can take the character seemingly anywhere in the mysteriously untitled Episode IX.

In his same conversation with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Domhnall Gleeson very nearly spoiled one of Hux's plot points for Episode IX. When describing his character's difficult lines of dialogue he nearly slipped, saying:

You know, madly, I nearly went to do one just there. Bizarrely, I went to say, 'The other day I had these seven words in a row that were hard and I nearly did it!' I'm terrible. I am a menace.

It seems like Domhnall Gleeson is having a ton of Star Wars script related anxiety. Luckily for him, that process should be coming to an end soon. J.J. Abrams' Episode IX is currently in the midst of filming, wrapping up the current trilogy and overall Skywalker Saga. This includes General Hux, and his complicated relationship with Kylo Ren.

All will be revealed when Episode IX arrives in theaters on December 20th, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.