Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, who stars as Rebel freedom fighter Saw Gerrera in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will join the cast of the hit animated series Star Wars Rebels, which is set in a time period just prior to the events of Rogue One. Whitaker will reprise his role as Saw Gerrera, providing the voice of the character as he makes his debut on “Ghosts of Geonosis, Parts One and Two” premiering Saturday, January 7 (8:30-9:30 p.m. EST), on Disney XD. Check out a featurette with footage from the episodes below!
“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 character of Saw Gerrera was first introduced in the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2015) as a guerrilla fighter for his home planet. Created by George Lucas, Saw received training from the Jedi – Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano – and served as an early harbinger of the Rebel Alliance, an assortment of disparate groups coming together to fight for a common cause.
Star Wars Rebels is created by Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past), and Carrie Beck. The Lucasfilm Animation production is executive produced by Filoni and Kinberg, and co-executive produced by Henry Gilroy.
The returning voice cast for Rebels season three includes Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, Captain Gregor and Commander Wolffe, Sam Witwer as Darth Maul and David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus. New to this season are Tom Baker (Doctor Who) as the intriguing Force-wise Bendu and Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards) as the voice of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
