Although Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been out for less than a week, the film continues to impact the Star Wars Saga. Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, who brought the animated character of Saw Gerrera to the big screen for Rogue One, is returning to his role in a new form. Whitaker will reprise his role as Gerrera for “Ghosts of Geonosis, Pt. 1” and “Pt. 2,” an upcoming one-hour special on Star Wars Rebels.
Even though Whitaker delivered an awesome performance as the shell-shocked Gerrera for Rogue One, the film barely revealed anything new about the character. The movie shows that he led the Partisans and became Jyn Erso‘s adoptive father. But otherwise, it seems like the character should’ve had a bigger role. Fortunately, it looks like Lucasfilm felt the same way. Check out a clip from Gerrera’s debut on Rebels:
We’ve already delved into Saw Gerrera’s extensive history in both in the real world and the Star Wars galaxy. He’s one of the first rebels and an original creation of George Lucas. With the character coming to Star Wars Rebels, let’s hone in on where his latest appearance occurs in his life.
What’s Saw Gerrera Doing on Geonosis?
In “Ghosts of Geonosis,” Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Captain Rex search for a missing rebel team on Geonosis. It’s unclear whether they’re specifically looking for Saw Gerrera, but they soon cross paths. The above clip shows a nice reunion between Rex and Gerrera. The veteran soldiers first met back in season five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, when Rex helped Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano train Gerrera and his fellow Onderon rebels in guerrilla warfare.
Voice actor Andrew Kishino portrayed Saw Gerrera for the character’s Clone Wars debut. Now, Forest Whitaker is taking over the role, since “Ghosts of Geonosis” occurs less than two years before Rogue One. When Gerrera appears in Rebels, he doesn’t yet have his cybernetic leg replacements or his oxygen tank from the film. The TV show won’t explain how Gerrera sustained those grievous injuries, but it will focus on the character’s increasingly extremist beliefs.
The main question is why Saw Gerrera is on Geonosis. James Luceno’s novel Catalyst, which leads into Rogue One, establishes that Geonosis was where the Empire built the Death Star. As a result, there’s a strong indication that Gerrera has uncovered clues to the Empire’s top-secret project. Executive producer Dave Filoni says of Gerrera, “He sees something coming, and no one will listen to him to take action before it’s too late.” It will be interesting to see how much Gerrera knows.
Will “Ghosts of Geonosis” finally reveal why Saw Gerrera broke off from the main rebellion? We’ll find out when Rebels returns on Jan 7, 2017.