Mickey 17 Barely Scratched The Surface Of This Character Played By An Oscar Nominee

The following contains spoilers for Mickey 17, now playing in theatersMickey 17 teases a large world of satirical sci-fi potential with one supporting character played by an Academy Award nominee. Mickey 17 is the follow-up to Bong Joon-ho’s Paradise. The film takes a similar darkly comic look at the flaws with modern society, this time filtered through a sci-fi perspective. Even if humanity has found a way to make their way to other worlds and radically change them for settlement, the faults of capitalism, politics, and science still remain as major complications for people.

Mickey 17‘s cast boasts several major stars, with the likes of Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo bringing years of blockbuster experience to the tonally tricky (but thematically effective) film. However, there’s one supporting character who proves to be among the most interesting aspects of the film. If the world of Mickey 17 were to be expanded beyond the film’s ending, then shifting focus to this character and their corner of the universe could open up an entire new universe of storytelling options.

Steven Yeun’s Timo Is One Mickey 17’s Most Unpredictable Elements

Timo Is Mickey 17‘s Biggest Wild Card

Timo plays a minor but important role in the film, serving as a target of Mickey 18’s rage and eventually getting revealed as a drug dealer on the colonizing space ship. Although Timo almost kills one of the Mickeys to appease the demands of the crime boss, Timo actually ends the film in a fairly stable place. He escapes scrutiny for his crimes on the ship, survives a brawl with one Blanks’ enforcers, and successfully argues this was self-defense. Timo is a true wildcard who repeatedly reveals new depths to his selfish nature and scrappy survivability.

Timo Teases A Mᴀssive World Of Sci-Fi Potential

Timo Proves What It Takes To Survive And Thrive In Mickey 17‘s Future

Robert Pattinson from Mickey 17 standing in front of Nasha, Timo, and a variety of his clones

One of the things that makes Timo such a fascinating character in the world of Mickey 17 is the way he hints at the larger state of humanity and society. While put-upon figures like Mickey or ruthless politicians like Kenneth Marshall illustrate the haves and have-nots of this future, Timo represents the people who scramble to make a place for themselves. He’s clever enough to adapt to being a pilot and defend himself in court, but sleezy enough to sell a fuel source as a drug and desperate enough to try murdering his best friend to save himself.

This suggests that the world of Mickey 17 is one where criminals and conmen have escaped the bounds of Earth to discover a wider universe of potential marks. Timo surviving underscores the film’s view that people like him will always be able to wriggle out of consequence, even when the powerful figures like Marshall are deposed. Timo hints at a much larger sci-fi world, where the remnants of Earth seem to be casually under the control of crime lords like Blank and there is a level of wealth that exceeds government sponsored expansion.

I Want To See More Of Mickey And Timo’s Sci-Fi World

Mickey 17 Could Build Out A Larger Universe Of Sci-Fi Satire

Mickey 17 sets up a universe of great satircal sci-fi potential that should be explored further with Timo. There’s a dark kookiness baked into the universe, as seen in alien creatures like the friendly creepers or the lethal oxygen of alien worlds that would be fun to explore. The film establishes a deeply sardonic perspective on humanity, with people having the potential (if not always the drive) to make the universe a better place. Gangs that transcend planets and technology capable of transforming worlds could easily be expaned into other storylines set within the same universe.

Mickey 17 is based on the novel Mickey7 by Esward Ashton. The book has a sequel, Antimatter Blues, which could also theoretically serve as inspiration for a sequel to Mickey 17.

Timo would be the perfect character to delve with further into this idea. Mickey 17 barely scratches the surface of the character, showcasing his grim self-preservation and surface-level charms without diving further into what makes him tick. If Mickey 17 were to be expanded, Timo might make for an ideal morally ambiguous character to further explore the universe. Especially given his place at the end of the story and likely target on his back from figures like Blank, it would be exciting to see the universe of Mickey 17 expanded with tricky characters like Timo at the center.