Intrigued by Rogue One: A Star Wars Movie ’s Saw Gerrera, the militant too militant for the militants? In an interview with Empire magazine, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy agrees.
“With Saw Gerrera, we just became very intrigued with him as a character [from The Clone Wars] and how he fits inside this story,” said Kennedy.
Forest Whitaker, who plays the imposing rebel, spoke out about Gerrera’s appeal, his place in the series and his tortured past:
“He's a battered war veteran who has fashioned himself as a freedom fighter. But because they need to make sure that they need to win this battle, he starts to take more extreme points of view. So a lot of the other rebel fighters won't associate with him, and consider Saw as an extremist in the fight against the Empire. All that backstory he has — he trained with Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi and Padawan Tano, you know — really blends in beautifully with where we meet him [in Rogue One]. Which is more of a war-torn veteran, suffering and injured from battles and wars.”
It’s hard not to take an interest in such a storied character, who’s been at so many critical points in the Rebellion’s timeline. And Kennedy’s revelation about Gerrera’s role in the film is not surprising.
Kennedy stated, “To be honest, we originally thought we were going to develop Saw into something much larger, but we couldn’t accommodate it. So he is not in the movie as much as we would like to have him in the movie, which creates the opportunity to explore his character even further in our future development.”
Future development could mean anything from his ongoing story in Star Wars Rebels or appearances in other Star Wars side projects and movies. If you’re curious, so’s Whitaker.
“I’m curious about what else they’re about to do,” said Whitaker. “Because they seem to really like the character, which is great!”
Gerrera definitely felt like a wasted opportunity for such a talented actor, but it’s heartening to know that Whitaker might have more to do with Gerrera in the future. What do you think? Feel free to discuss Rogue One and Saw Gerrera in our comments section below. (And don’t forget to check out our review of the film here.)
