Orson Krennic

Orson Krennic
Star Wars character
Ben Mendelsohn as Krennic in a teaser poster for Rogue One.
First appearance	Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel (2016)
Last appearance	Rogue One (2016)
Created by	John Knoll
Portrayed by	Ben Mendelsohn
Information
Full name	Orson Callan Krennic
Gender	Male
Occupation	Commander, Director of the Advanced Weapons research of the Empire's Imperial Military

Orson Krennic is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn in the 2016 film Rogue One. Krennic is the Director of the Advanced Weapons Research of the Empire's Imperial Military. The character was introduced in the 2016 prequel novel Catalyst by James Luceno.

Industrial Light & Magic chief creative officer John Knoll, credited for the story of 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, 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 came aboard to write the script.

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, having dinner in a restaurant with director Gareth Edwards, "He [Edwards] told 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.