Grandmaster is particularly fascinated with games, and has spent eons pitting two opposing forces against one another – which is perfectly reflected in his fascination with gladiator games in Thor: Ragnarok.
Jeff Goldblum has played an alien before, starring alongside Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans as a trio of furry extraterrestrials in Julien Temple’s Earth Girls Are Easy, but never a role with a history quite like The Grandmaster’s.
It’s also worth driving home that he is one of the most powerful beings in creation, not only because the cosmic life force renders him immortal, but also because he has abilities controlling life and death.
As previously noted, the character is one the Elders of the Universe, which is a group of primordial beings each known for their particular obsession (as Goldblum notes, Benicio del Toro’s Guardians of the Galaxy part, The Collector, is actually his brother).