Disney XD – 2016(NEW YORK) — Oscar winner Forest Whitaker made quite the impression as the militant Rebel faction leader Saw Gererra in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — so much so that he’s reprising his role in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels.
Gerrera will appear in the third season premiere of the Disney XD series, Star Wars Rebels: Ghosts of Geonosis, Parts One and Two, which premieres Saturday, January 9 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Incidentally, the character, which was created by George Lucas, got his start on another animated small-screen project: the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series. There, Gererra was seen as a young man, trained by Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to overthrow a droid invasion.
As Rogue One explains, Gererra became a leader in the Rebellion, but his battles against the Empire left him mentally and physically scarred, and he became an outcast who headed his own, more extreme faction of freedom fighters.
“It’s an incredible honor to have Forest Whitaker play Saw in Rebels,” says series executive producer Dave Filoni. “Forest did a great job at capturing Saw in a way that is a bit mad, a bit crazed, a bit afraid, but also a bit sympathetic. He sees something coming, but no one will take action before it’s too late.”
The series has also boasted the guest voices of David Oyelowo, Liam Neeson, and James Earl Jones, the latter, of course, voicing Darth Vader.
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