Katy O’Brian isn’t a stranger to iconic franchises, having starred as Kimball in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Katy in The Walking Dead, and Kodiak in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. But the one that has swept Star Wars fans’ attention is O’Brian’s role as Imperial comms officer Elia Kane in The Mandalorian.
With Elia Kane starring in seven episodes of The Mandalorian and her fate unknown by the end of season 3, some fans have wondered whether we’ll see the sly Imperial agent return in the upcoming film, The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Speaking to Polygon via a Zoom call, O’Brian shut down any hopes of Elia Kane returning in the upcoming film, but didn’t entirely rule out a return if The Mandalorian received a fourth season.
“Dude, nothing.” O’Brian said. “I don’t know if they’re going to do a season four. I know the movie’s coming out. I know I’m not in it.”
First introduced back in season 2 as a nameless comms officer who reported to Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon on the whereabouts of Din Djarin and his ward, Grogu, not much was known about O’Brian’s character. This changed by the time season 3 came around, with O’Brian having a much more hands-on role and the character even getting a name, Elia Kane.
Elia and Dr Penn Pershing (Omid Abtahi) decided to continue the cloning research they had been conducting under Moff Gideon, despite being part of the New Republic’s amnesty program. Pershing was caught and essentially brought back to have his mind “soothed” by what seemed to be a Dungeons & Dragons’ mind flayer, only to have Kane ramp up the power and fry his mind instead.
Kane not being in the film is disappointing news for fans of the character. The storyline that Elia Kane was left with felt set up to continue, and it still might, but seemingly not with O’Brian involved. However, if there’s anything that’s become clear with Star Wars, it’s to never say never about a character returning somehow, somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away.
