Director Orson Callan Krennic is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, portrayed by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn in the film '' Rogue One'' (2016) as the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Andor'' (2025). Krennic is the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Galactic Empire.

Character

Origins

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

chief creative officer

John Knoll John Knoll (born October 6, 1962) is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop (along with his brother, Thomas Knoll), he has ...

, credited for the story of the 2016 film '' Rogue One'', told '' Vanity Fair'' in 2016 that he conceived the plot of the film while working as a visual effects supervisor on the 2005 film '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith''. Hearing about the development of a live-action ''Star Wars'' television series, he conceived a story, inspired by a plot point mentioned in the opening crawl of the original 1977 film ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', which would eventually become ''Rogue One''. In Knoll's original story draft of the film, Krennic was a double agent on Jyn Erso's team reporting to the Imperial Security Bureau. However, this was changed when

Gary Whitta Gary Leslie Whitta (born 21 July 1972) is an English-American screenwriter, author, game designer, and video game journalist. Whitta was the screenwriter of film '' The Book of Eli'' (2010), co-wrote the film ''After Earth'' (2013) with M. Night ...

came aboard to write the script. Earlier planned endings for the film featured Krennic surviving the events on Scarif before being killed by

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

for not preventing the theft of the plans to the

Death Star The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire, the Death Star is capable of obliterating entire planets, and serves to enforce ...

. The scene was cut as writers had trouble justifying why Krennic would have survived the explosion the Death Star caused.

Casting

In March 2015, it was announced that Ben Mendelsohn had been cast in a lead role in ''Rogue One''. Mendelsohn said in an interview he learned about his casting while filming ''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...

'', having dinner in a restaurant with director Gareth Edwards, "He dwardstold me about the story and he told me about the character and then he said, 'I want you to do it.'" Mendelsohn noted his response was immediate.

Description

The character of Orson Krennic is depicted as a power-hungry and ruthless Imperial weapons developer overseeing the construction of the

, a

space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...

with the capability to destroy an entire planet. Krennic has a rivalry with Grand Moff Tarkin, and seeks to win the favor of Emperor Palpatine.

James Luceno James Luceno (born 1947) is an American author born in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, known for his novels and reference books connected with the ''Star Wars'' franchise and the Star Wars Expanded Universe, ''Star Wars'' Expanded Uni ...

, author of the novel '' Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel'' which introduced Krennic, has said, "Orson Krennic prides himself in being able to get his way through manipulation and whatever devilish things he can come up with. He also has the ability to stay on his feet even when punches are being hurled at him. He can change strategies in the middle of things. This, combined with his innate volatility, makes him a very different kind of villain than we've seen." In an interview with

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

, Mendelsohn spoke of his character, saying "He's an outsider, essentially. He's an outsider in so far as he's not a born officer class guy, he's a guy that worked his way up and regards a lot of the officer class as just not really worth their salt. And he is a guy that as it were has come up through stuff, so he has a great force of will, he also very much believes in the Empire's agenda, he's very onboard with it. He's risen his way up to become the head of military intelligence and operations and he's going to build this Death Star."

Appearances

''Catalyst''

Krennic first appears in the 2016 prequel novel '' Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel'' by

. A Lieutenant Commander, later Commander, in the Galactic Republic Special Weapons group, he rescues his old friend Galen Erso, a scientist who has been kidnapped with his family by Separatist agents. Following the formation of the Empire, Krennic manipulates Galen to work on the

project. The novel also explains how Krennic's interrogation of Poggle the Lesser, a character introduced in ''

Attack of the Clones Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Attack (fencing) * Charge (warfare) * Offensive (military) * Strike (attack) Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * '' Attack No. 1'', comic and animation * Attack! Books, a publis ...

'', kickstarted the Empire's Death Star Project.

''Rogue One''

''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' was released in December 2016, featuring Ben Mendelsohn in the role of Orson Krennic. In the beginning of the film, he captures Galen Erso to force him to continue helping the Empire build the Death Star. Over a decade later, Krennic meets with Grand Moff Tarkin, who expresses skepticism about his management of the Death Star project. When the Death Star is completed, Krennic tests its superlaser on the capital city of Jedha upon Tarkin's request, killing Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera and his Partisans. Once Krennic has proven the station's power, the imperious Tarkin uses a recent security leak as a pretext to wrest control of the weapon away from him. A furious Krennic travels to

Eadu The fictional universe of the ''Star Wars'' franchise features multiple planets and moons. While only the feature films and selected other works are considered canon to the franchise since the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disn ...

to confront Galen and his team of engineers, whom he believes may be responsible for the leak. After Galen confesses, he is mortally wounded during a Rebel attack and Krennic flees. He later meets with

on Mustafar, seeking an audience with Palpatine and to regain command of the Death Star, but is Force-choked and dismissed to ensure there are no further security breaches related to the Death Star project. Krennic goes to Scarif as the Rebels engage Imperial forces there, and sends his Death Trooper guards into battle while he attempts to stop the Rebels from stealing the Death Star plans hidden in the Scarif Imperial facility. Krennic shoots and wounds Cassian Andor, and later tries to kill Jyn Erso, but Andor recovers and shoots Krennic, incapacitating him. Krennic is subsequently killed by the superlaser of the Death Star when it fires on Scarif at the order of Tarkin.

''Star Wars: The Bad Batch''

Mendelsohn reprises his role as Krennic in the '' Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' episode, "The Summit", set before the events of ''Rogue One,'' where he delivers a detail on the

construction.

''Andor''

Mendelsohn reprises his role as Krennic in the second season of '' Andor'' (2025), taking place in the four years leading up to ''Rogue One''. He recruits various Imperial officers to help with the mining of resources from the planet Ghorman for the Emperor's new energy program. The ISB officer Dedra Meero creates a plan to initiate a rebellion against the Empire on Ghorman, creating reason for Imperial subjugation. Secretly, the resources from Ghorman, along with kyber crystals from Jedha, were being used to power the Death Star. Meero is later revealed to be compromised as her knowledge is being leaked to rebellion leader Luthen Rael. Krennic orders a manhunt for Rael's assistant Kleya, who escapes and shares information about the 'energy project' to the Rebellion.

Related works and merchandising

Krennic appears in the film novelization of ''Rogue One'' by Alexander Freed. Krennic is a playable character in the 2015 action shooter video game '' Star Wars Battlefront'', as part of the 2016

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

(DLC) ''Rogue One: Scarif''

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

. He also appears as a playable character in the mobile turn-based

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

'' Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes'', classified as an Empire support who inflicts various debuffs and works well with a Death Trooper. He is also a Dark Side squad leader in the 2017 MOBA '' Star Wars: Force Arena'' who provides a small energy boost and also possesses a rapid-fire attack ability. Krennic is mentioned a few times in the final season of '' Star Wars Rebels'', but did not appear in the series due to a creative decision by Dave Filoni. He was written into one of the earlier drafts of the episode "A Fool's Hope", but the scene was cut early on. '' Star Wars: Darth Vader Annual'' #2 features an appearance by Krennic which depicts his first encounter with Vader and his feud with Tarkin. Krennic appears in Timothy Zahn's 2019 novel '' Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason''. Set against the backdrop of the last episodes of ''Star Wars Rebels'', the novel includes an encounter between Krennic and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Reception

Krennic has generally been received positively by critics and fans. Gareth Edwards told ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' that he liked how the character was "much more working-class" and rose to the ranks "through sheer force of personality and ideas." In ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'' otherwise critical review of the film, Tim Hayes wrote, "Apart from Ben Mendelsohn's weaselly Orson Krennic ... and perhaps

Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan ( zh, c=甄子丹, p=Zhēn Zǐdān, j=, first=j; born 27 July 1963) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and action director. He is the recipient of various accolades, including three Golden Horse Fi ...

as a blind samurai ... the faces are unmemorable and the characters unexceptional". Meredith Woerner of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the white cape which Krennic wears the "standout piece" of the film, writing that it "unfolds a world of menace by simply gliding over a bloody beach or whipping through the rain without ever showing even the tiniest speck of dirt." Conversely, Joshua Starnes wrote that Krennic's failures against the Rebels and pursuit of praise do not make him "a particularly sinister or effective villain", and the film "continually weakens him as a threatening presence".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krennic, Orson Fictional architects Fictional engineers Fictional kidnappers Fictional mass murderers Fictional war criminals Fictional murdered people Film characters introduced in 2016 Film supervillains Literary characters introduced in 2016 Male film villains Male literary villains Star Wars Anthology characters Star Wars literary characters Star Wars: The Bad Batch characters