With ‘Rogue One’ showing us the immediate lead up to the events of the original ‘Star Wars’ while ‘Rebels’ chronicles the early days of the Rebel Alliance, the matter of whether or not the two would connect in some way was always more a question of “when” than “if”. Indeed, ‘Rogue One’ alone introduced a number of tentative connections to the animated series with a variety of Easter eggs. But perhaps the biggest nod that ‘Rogue One’ made to the animated ‘Star Wars’ projects was the inclusion of Saw Gerrera, played in the film by Forest Whitaker.
‘Rebels’ producer Dave Filoni has always been keen to tie the series into the wider ‘Star Wars’ universe, and he’ll have another opportunity to do just that when ‘Rebels’ returns from its midseason hiatus. When ‘Rebels’ returns with a two-part episode titled ‘Ghosts of Geonosis’, the crew of the Ghost will find themselves face to face with none other than Saw Gerrera, with Forest Whitaker reprising the role.
And now, Disney has released a trailer for the midseason premiere, blending footage of Gerrera from both ‘Rogue One’ his upcoming animated appearance. You can see the trailer here:
When the character was first introduced in a 2012 storyline on ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’, Gerrera was established as a resistance leader on Onderon. Over the course of four episodes, he was seen fighting alongside Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano to free his world from the control of the Separatists. Given this, it was only natural that Gerrera would eventually come to have some involvement with the Rebel Alliance. And indeed, Gerrera was referenced on ‘Rebels’ ahead of his appearance in ‘Rogue One’, establishing his involvement with the rebellion and giving some indication of the extremist tactics he became known for.
‘Star Wars: Rebels’ stars Taylor Gray, Freddie Prinze Jr, Vanessa Marshall, Tiya Sircar, and Steven Blum. The series will return from its hiatus on January 7, 2017, when it will once again begin airing on Disney XD.
