Mads Mikkelsen Confirms His INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE DIAL CHARACTER IS NOT RELATED TO TOHT

Ever since the first trailer debuted for the director James Mangold’S Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destinymany fans wondered if Mads MikkelsenJurgen Valler’s villainous character had some relation to Raiders of the Lost Arkis Arnold Toht. It turns out the answer is no, they are only connected through the Nazi Party.

In an interview with Total Film, Mikkelsen talked a bit about how they tried to separate the characters and his admiration for which actor Riccardo Laceyis the portrait of Arnold Toht. Speaking of Toht, the actor said, “I love that character” and explained that he’s part of making the iconic black coat, hat and glasses. He went on to explain how they are different:

“We didn’t go that far with the character. That would have been interesting. [Toht] he was more of a henchman, I would say. And this guy is the brains behind a lot of things. So they weren’t going down the same road. But I wear glasses. This is one thing. But we tried to avoid copying him altogether, because he did it so perfectly.”

I like that there’s this distinction between the villains. Toht is a henchman and Valler is his mission leader. In The Dial of Destiny Valler infiltrated NASA in 1969 with plans to discredit the moon landing. This is not a far-fetched idea as NASA has been documented to have hired former Nazis to help them with the space race. He is also trying to “rectify the world and make it into a better place as he sees fit”.

Mikkelson also explained that Voller is loosely based on Wernher von Braun and discusses how “Americans […] they opened their arms and doors to the scientists of the Third Reich. And they closed their eyes to whatever atrocities they might have committed.”

To be honest, at first I thought their looks were too similar, then I remembered the Nazis’ need for uniformity. It makes perfect sense that their fashion sense is congruent.

Let us know what you think.

Billy out!