Over the weekend, new promo art for the back half of Star Wars Rebels Season 3 revealed that Rogue One character Saw Gerrera is coming to Star Wars Rebels. Before Forest Whitaker played him in the blockbuster Rogue One, this character was first featured in four episodes of the earlier animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, voiced by Andrew Kishino, and now we’ll get to see this character go back to his animated roots in Star Wars Rebels. Today, LucasFilm has confirmed the news of Saw Gerrera’s return with a new preview video, which also confirms that Forest Whitaker himself returns to voice this beloved character.
Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, who stars as Rebel freedom fighter Saw Gerrera in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will join the cast of the hit animated series Star Wars Rebels, which is set in a time period just prior to the events of Rogue One. Whitaker will reprise his role as Gerrera, providing the voice of the character as he makes his debut on Star Wars Rebels: Ghosts of Geonosis, Parts One and Two premiering Saturday, January 7 (8:30-9:30 p.m. EST), on Disney XD. Here’s what Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni had to say in a statement.
“It’s an incredible honor to have Forest Whitaker play Saw in Rebels. Forest did a great job at capturing Saw in a way that is a bit mad, a bit crazed, a bit afraid, but also a bit sympathetic. He sees something coming, but no one will take action before it’s too late.”
The character of Saw Gerrera was first introduced in the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2015) as a guerrilla fighter for his home planet. Created by George Lucas, Saw received training from the Jedi – Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano – and served as an early harbinger of the Rebel Alliance, an assortment of disparate groups coming together to fight for a common cause. It has yet to be confirmed if Forest Whitaker’s Saw Gerrera will appear in more than just this two-part episode of Star Wars Rebels Season 3, but this story could provide some insight and back story into the events of Rogue One. Be warned, if you haven’t seen Rogue One yet, there will be SPOILERS below, so read on at your own risk.
Saw Gerrera didn’t make it out alive after the Empire blew up the holy Jedi planet of Jedha. Thankfully, since Star Wars Rebels is set before the events of this Star Wars standalone movie, we can get a glimpse at Saw before he meets Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and the other members of the rebel team that set out on a dangerous mission to steal plans for the original Death Star. It seems from this preview that Saw Gerrera knew about the Death Star before anyone else, with executive producer Dave Filoni and LucasFilm‘s Kiri Hart shedding light on how Saw comes into the story.
Rogue One did feature a brief cameo appearance of the Ghost ship from Star Wars Rebels, but it was never fully confirmed that the ship, piloted by Hera, made the jump to hyperspace in time. It’s possible that all of the other Star Wars Rebels characters were aboard the Ghost at the time, and if it wasn’t able to make it out of Scarif alive, this could be why these characters aren’t featured at any other point within the Star Wars timeline. While we wait for more on Star Wars Rebels, take a look at the new preview and image of Saw Gerrera, before Star Wars Rebels returns with Ghosts of Geonosis, Parts One and Two on Saturday, January 7 (8:30-9:30 p.m. EST), only on Disney XD.
