Earlier today, fans got their first look at te latest Entertainment Weekly cover featuring the stars ofRogue One: A Star Wars Story, along with new photos andcharacter details. One of these photos offered a new look atForest Whitaker’s character, with his identity set to be uncovered later today. As it turns out, there’s a good reason this character was revealed separately, becauseForest Whitakeris playing none other thanStar Wars: The Clone Warscharacter Saw Gerrera.
Entertainment Weeklyreveals that Saw Gerrera was first seen in Season 5 ofStar Wars: The Clone Warsas a young man using guerilla army tactics against the Separatists' droid army that overtook his planet. Both Saw and his sister Steela fought alongside Annakin Skywalker in a 2012 episode, and the siblings were also part of a group who were trained by Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano. EW spoke with producerKathleen Kennedy, who teased that Saw Gerrera goes to such extremes, that even the Rebels themselves are worried about him.
“Consider him kind of a battered veteran who leads a band of Rebel extremists. He’s on the fringe of theRebel Alliance. Even [they] are a little concerned about him.”
Saw Gerrera was actually created byGeorge Lucas, who had planned to use him in a live action TV series that never got off the ground, before he was introduced inStar Wars: The Clone Wars. ProducerJohn Knollreportedly came up with the idea that theDeath Starwas what pulled together random factions of the Rebel Alliance and bonded them together. Here’s whatKiri Hart, LucasFilm’s head of story development, had to say about the Death Star.
“The Death Star is the event that sort of pulls everybody into a place of unity, and prior to that it’s a little bit more divided. Who are at the different ends of that spectrum?”
Another member of the LucasFilm story group,Pablo Hidalgo, revealed more details about Saw Gerrera on TheStar WarsShow earlier today, which you can check out in the video player below. It isn’t known when we may see the next footage, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as new footage or details surface. In the meantime, take a look at the new episode of The Star Wars Show below.
