Lucasfilm Reveals Why A Cult ‘Star Wars’ Character Wasn’t In ‘Rogue One’
Considering how dense and rich the Star Wars universe is, it’s going to take quite a lot of co-ordination from Lucasfilm to make sure that the future installments to the franchise don’t undo any of the past story-lines or characterisation that the originals have established.
That’s especially true when it comes to the Anthology films, which are set to weave around the antics of A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi. Luckily for Lucasfilm, they have a bonafide Star Wars guru among their ranks who is able to steer these films away from wrecking parts of its predecessors.
Pablo Hidalgo is part of Lucasfilm’s Story Group, and he is the man tasked with knowing and explaining where every major, minor, and background Star Wars character is at all times. So when the question of why a certain cult Star Wars character didn’t feature in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was recently raised he instantly had an answer.
Following the release of Rogue One, Star Wars fans have been wondering just where in the galaxy was Wedge Antilles. A cult character from the Star Wars cannon, A New Hope, establishes that Wedge Antilles is part of Red Squadron. Since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s climactic Battle Of Scarif includes both Red Leader and Gold Leader, fans were certain that Wedge Antilles also should have been involved in the fighting.
Back in the middle of January, Pablo Hidalgo responded to questions regarding Wedge Antilles’ location in Rogue One by explaining that there were both practical and consistency reasons why he didn’t feature. After being asked, “Any reason we only see Gold/Red Leader (no wedge, etc)? No permission from actor/estate? Distract from film? Lacking footage?” by @JarackLawrence, Pablo Hidalgo decided to respond.
“Wedge wouldn’t be there. And amount of footage was a factor too. George did not ‘overshoot’ SW, as evidenced by edit.”
This only piqued the interest of other Star Wars fans. Soon, they began to inundate Pablo Hidalgo with further queries asking why Wedge Antilles wouldn’t be there. @DG_Footy asked, “Why wouldn’t he be there?” And Pablo Hidalgo’s explanation gave you a clear indication of just how much thought and work goes into the films.
“Because he’s never seen the Death Star before A New Hope.”
How did Pablo Hidalgo know this? Because of a single line from Star Wars: A New Hope that Wedge Antilles utters upon seeing the Death Star for the first time.
“‘Look at the size of that thing!’ is the line we were trying to preserve.”
But the Star Wars team wasn’t done with the revelations regarding Wedge Antilles’ location in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Earlier this week, Matthew Wood, who was the supervising sound editor on Rogue One, was quizzed about Wedge Antilles. But rather than just passing on the same information as Pablo Hidalgo, he actually revealed where the character was during the battle.
Wedge (voice of @DavidAnkrum1 ) is on Yavin 4, announcing to flight personnel to report in & redirect to Scarif, MTFBWY. He stays on Yavin.
— @matthewood (@matthewood) January 28, 2017
This wasn’t the first time that the location of Wedge Antilles during Rogue One was revealed.
That’s because during Matthew Wood’s recent interview with Slash Film, he confirmed that he actually asked David Ankrum, the actor who played Wedge Antilles in A New Hope, to record a voice cameo for the film.
“I got the voice of the gentleman who played Wedge, David Ankrum, to voice a little cameo on Yavin 4 to have all their ships head out to go to the battle on Scarif. He was thrilled to come back, and we recorded him, and yeah, so those kinds of things, you just try to connect back.”
Those of you looking to learn more about Wedge Antilles will actually get the chance to do so later in February, as he features in Empire’s End, the final installment of Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy, which is due out on February 21.
[Featured Image by Lucasfilm]
