And even then - okay, you don’t think Hux can be a real bad guy. That’s dumb on the part of the creative team to buy into that, but alright, I’ll roll with it.
Why do you then go and get RICHARD E. GRANT to play such a NOTHING of a character?
When Captain Canady made more impact in 2 minutes of screentime than RICHARD E. GRANT did? Come on.
Grant really plays the role exactly right too, it’s a shame there’s nothing for him to do.
They could’ve just made Hux lash out more after how he was treated in TLJ. One of the good things in the DOTF script was that it introduced Hux by having him execute the Resistance sympathizer. It reestablishes Hux as someone who had power to hurt people we care about. (It also makes Hux have Force-envy, but…)
But Hux throwing a coup against Kylo felt like such a huge set up. I find it weird JJ and Terrio watched that, saw that final look Hux have Kylo in TLJ, and said, “Well shit, we gotta get rid of Hux now…”
Yeah Hux is really shafted. He’s a dangerous character, I feel like people forget that everything the First Order accomplishes in TLJ is because of him. It’s weird too that they bring up the “error of Starkiller base” when they managed to destroy the Republic and destabilize the galaxy, which allowed them to take over in the first place.
Ideally Hux would have been shown to clash with Ren in IX, and also go far off the reservation (with the rabid “weakness” not being properly manipulated). Yeah he’s the butt of jokes, but that doesn’t make him toothless. It’s easy to imagine a scene in a better IX where we go from laughing at him to be afraid of him in seconds because he’s suddenly executed a Resistance buddy. Missed opportunities.