10 Actors Who Have Mysterious Roles In Upcoming Films

2. Matt Smith - Star Wars: Episode IX

Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith Doctor Who Series 5
BBC Studios

What We Know

Even though details about his Morbius character were recently revealed, Matt Smith still has a mystery role in a major upcoming movie left on the docket. This one is in Star Wars: Episode IX, where he'll join his former Doctor Who co-star Richard E. Grant.

So far, the only detail we know about his part is that it will be "key" (as per Variety), a word that has not been used to describe Russell's and Grant's parts. Based on this alone, it's safe to assume that Smith - out of all the new additions to the cast - has the most crucial part in the film

Who He Might Be Playing

A rumour from late last year posited that Smith will be playing young Emperor Palpatine in the film, which does seem to fit: the actor definitely has the right look for that sort of gaunt, pale, sinister role. Then again, de-aging technology is near-flawless these days, so why not just make Ian McDiarmid look younger with special effects?

A separate rumour posted on Reddit (via We Got This Covered) stated that Smith will be one of the Knights Of Ren, with the actor said to have been spotted on set wearing dark robes and clutching a lightsaber.

While both of these rumours should be taken with major grains of salt, all speculation (so far) does point to Smith being a villain, whether that's Palpatine, one of Kylo's cohorts, or someone else.

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!