This is the crossover you’ve been waiting for: Saw Gerrera, voiced by Forest Whitaker, who portrays the character in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will be coming to Star Wars Rebels’ third season in a special two-part midseason premiere airing January 7. There’s now a second video for the premiere, cutting in footage of RO and the new episodes, below.
Ever since the midseason premiere’s name was outed as “Ghosts of Geonosis,” mentioning the name of the planet we know hosted the Death Star’s earliest years in construction, questions have stirred if this is where Rebels would contain a crossover with Rogue One. The film, which just released last Friday, contained a plethora of Rebels references and Easter Eggs (more on those in my review!) so it was only a matter of time for the show to reciprocate (which, technically due to the lead time in animation, this crossover has been in works before the film was probably even done). There’s not a lot of details released about the upcoming episode, but Dave Filoni (who was there for the character’s inception in The Clone Wars) says Gerrera knows the Empire isn’t going to be playing games anymore, as they are building something that will wipe out the Rebellion (gee, wonder what that is…) and the time to fight is now.
My favorite part of Saw’s return to animation, as the character started on The Clone Wars and was brought to life with an unhinged, but restrained madness by Forest Whitaker in RO, is that Mr. Whitaker will lend his voice to the show. As Filoni states in EW’s article, and as the actor himself brought up at Celebration Europe at the Rogue One panel, Whitaker went out of his way to watch TCW episodes to better understand the character, meaning he’s not only bringing his considerable acting skills to Saw on Rebels, but also his respect and appreciation for Saw as well. If you’ve seen the film, even for the little time he was on screen, Saw’s a hard to forget character and that’s partly thanks to his haggard appearance and mostly Whitaker.
We’ll be back with more Rebels news as it drops, as I imagine there will be a second half of S3 trailer coming before the season continues, and new reviews once S3 returns on January 7, 2017!
UPDATE: So far no second half of S3 trailer but for now we have a pretty cool new one for Saw’s appearance on Rebels:
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS REBELS REVIEWS:
Season One | Season Two | Season Three | Season Four
SEE ALSO:
Movie Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Novel Review: Catalyst: A Rogue One Story
Premiere of Star Wars Rebels Season Three Airs September 24
Latest Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer Brings Hope to the Rebellion
Rogue One’s Second Trailer Showcases Cast, Sweeping Visuals, and Teases Vader (UPDATED)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Panel and Costume Exhibit (SWCE 2016) (UPDATED)
The Curious Case of Governor Arihnda Pryce
Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Panel/Press Conference Details: Trailer, Grand Admiral Thrawn (& Novel), New Characters (SWCE 2016)
Rogue One: An EW Cover Story
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s First Teaser Trailer Rebels in all the Right Ways
SWCE 2016 News Roundup Pt. 2: Panel Schedule is Live, Exclusive Art, VR Experience (UPDATED)
SWCE 2016 News Roundup: Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Premiere, Rogue One Props, Podcast Stage
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