Domhnall Gleeson on General Hux: more bitterness and an abrupt ending in The Rise of Skywalker

According to Gleeson, Hux should have had more quiet scenes that showed his danger in a more controlled, less loud way.

In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Hux is exposed as a secret spy and then quickly killed, bringing his storyline to an abrupt end.

What happened

Domhnall Gleeson looked back on his role as General Hux in the Star Wars sequel trilogy in an interview with IGN. He said he would have found it interesting to explore the character’s “bitterness” further, rather than presenting Hux mainly as a shouty First Order officer. In the IGN piece, that idea is tied to how Hux appears across the trilogy’s three films: first as a prominent military figure, then as a character increasingly under pressure.

Gleeson also said he would have preferred more quiet moments where Hux’s real threat could have come through. In the article, he is quoted describing Hux near the end of his arc as feeling like a “kicked dog,” a phrase that captures the character’s decline. That wording fits the source’s framing: not as a complaint about one specific scene, but as a broader wish for more room to develop Hux’s character.

His comments line up with Hux’s ending in The Rise of Skywalker. There, the character is revealed to be a secret Rebel spy, after which he is quickly exposed and killed. Gleeson referred to the scene in which Richard E. Grant shoots his character in the chest. The IGN text presents that death as an abrupt end for a character who had been part of the trilogy since The Force Awakens.

The publication names Liv Marks as the author. Based on the provided material, it is not clear whether this was a new interview or a republished earlier conversation. It is also not confirmed exactly when the original interview took place, so the context of the quote is limited to the article itself and the supplied summary.

Background

General Hux appears in all three films of the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. That means Gleeson’s reflection is not about a one-off cameo, but about a character who remained part of the central conflict around the First Order across multiple years and films. The IGN piece places his comments within a completed film arc, with the final movie shaping Hux’s ending most strongly.

The source names Liv Marks as the article’s author, but the provided material does not show whether this was a new interview or an older conversation that was republished. It is also not confirmed when the original interview was recorded. That makes the piece relevant as a reflection on the role, but less clear as a report from a new Star Wars promo moment.

The supplied context also notes that the IGN text links Hux’s end to his spy reveal and to the scene where Richard E. Grant shoots the character. That detail matters because it shows how quickly the film wraps up his arc. In the same context, it becomes clear that Gleeson was especially interested in Hux’s inner side: the bitterness, the controlled menace, and the way the character could have been portrayed as less loud and more layered.

The external context provided alongside the publication also refers to IGN and to similar summaries with the same general point. In those summaries, Hux is described as one of the few characters to return across all three sequel films. That supports the reading that Gleeson’s comments are not just about one scene, but about the full development of a recurring Star Wars character that began in 2015 and ended in 2019.