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Wedge Antilles

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This article is about the pilot designated "Red Leader" in Return of the Jedi. For the character with this designation in A New Hope, see Garven Dreis.
Wedge Antilles
Star Wars character
Denis Lawson as Wedge in A New Hope (1977)
First appearanceStar Wars (1977)
Created byGeorge Lucas
Portrayed byDenis Lawson
Voiced by
In-universe information
AliasTIE SS25 (Imperial cadet)
Rogue Leader (Rogue Squadron)
GenderMale
Occupation
Affiliation
FamilyKaré Kun (stepdaughter-in-law) Legends:
  • Jagged Antilles (father, deceased)
  • Zena Antilles (mother, deceased)
  • Syal Antilles Fel (sister)
  • Soontir Fel (brother-in-law)
  • Davin Fel (nephew, deceased)
  • Chak Fel (nephew, deceased)
  • Cherith Fel (niece, deceased)
  • Jagged Fel (nephew)
  • Wynssa Fel (niece)
  • Cem Fel (nephew)
  • Jaina Solo Fel (niece-in-law)
SpouseNorra Wexley
Legends:
Iella Wessiri
ChildrenTemmin Wexley (stepson)
Legends:
Syal Antilles (daughter)
Myri Antilles (daughter)
HomeworldCorellia

Wedge Antilles is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a supporting character portrayed by Denis Lawson in the original Star Wars trilogy.[1] He is also featured in the Star Wars expanded universe, most notably as the lead character in most of the X-Wing novels. Wedge has also appeared in the sequel trilogy film The Rise of Skywalker (2019), with Lawson reprising his role, and the 2014 animated series Star Wars Rebels, voiced by Nathan Kress.

Before defecting to the Rebel Alliance, Antilles was an Imperial cadet (callsign: TIE SS25[2]) of the Skystrike Academy. Antilles founded Rogue Squadron with his friend Luke Skywalker. His superior piloting skills, in-depth knowledge of Imperial war doctrine, and tactical leadership quickly propelled him though the ranks to become Marshal of the Alliance Starfighter Corps. Wedge is notable for being the only Rebel pilot to have survived both attack runs on the Death Stars at the battles of Yavin and Endor.[1]

Depiction

Wedge first appears in Star Wars during the Rebels' Death Star attack briefing. In this scene Wedge is portrayed by Colin Higgins and voiced by David Ankrum, who dubs the character throughout the film. Denis Lawson plays the character for the remaining scenes filmed in the X-wing cockpit.[1] Lawson also portrays Antilles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In the former, Lawson's voice was dubbed over by David Ankrum, while Lawson used his own voice in the latter, masking his natural Scottish accent with an imitation of an American accent. David Ankrum reprises his role as the voice of Wedge in Rogue One. Coincidentally, Denis Lawson is the maternal uncle of Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy.[3]

Appearances

Films

Wedge appears towards the end of Star Wars as "Red Two", an X-wing pilot and a member of Red Squadron. His considerable dogfighting prowess is shown in the Battle of Yavin when he saves Luke Skywalker by shooting down a TIE fighter that Luke had been unable to shake off with a head on, high deflection angle shot. Along with Luke and Biggs Darklighter, he is one of only three X-wing pilots to survive until the final attack run along the Death Star's trench. However, his X-wing is damaged, and he is forced to disengage before the Death Star is destroyed. He and Luke are the only two X-Wing pilots to survive the battle, along with a Y-wing and the Millennium Falcon.[4]

Wedge appears in The Empire Strikes Back as a member of the newly formed Rogue Squadron. He flies a snowspeeder against the Empire's AT-AT ground assault with Wes Janson as his harpoon gunner. Their snowspeeder inflicts the first casualty against the AT-AT attack group by firing a harpoon trailing a tow cable into one of the walker's legs and circling the walker several times, causing it to trip and fall and allowing Rebel forces to destroy the walker. After the battle, Wedge is seen and heard wishing Luke a safe trip.[5]

Wedge appears towards the end of Return of the Jedi as the leader of Red Squadron in the Battle of Endor. Along with Lando Calrissian, who pilots the Millennium Falcon with Nien Nunb, he leads the fighter attack on the second Death Star. His dogfighting prowess is shown again in this battle, as Wedge personally shoots down a number of Imperial TIE fighters, and appears to easily navigate the narrow and treacherous flight spaces inside the Death Star that lead to its core. When he and Lando reach the Death Star's core, Wedge destroys the power regulator on the core's north tower, while Lando destroys the core itself. He later appears at the victory celebration at the Ewok village on Endor.[6]

Wedge appears, once again played by Denis Lawson, in the final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker.[7] He is seen manning a gun turret on the Millennium Falcon during the battle between the Resistance and the Final Order. Lawson had previously been asked to appear as Wedge in The Force Awakens, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.[8]

Wedge is not seen on screen in the spinoff film Rogue One, but his voice is briefly heard over the intercom in the Rebel base on Yavin 4.[9][10] He was intentionally omitted from the film's climactic battle in order to avoid a continuity error with the first Star Wars film, which takes place immediately after Rogue One.[11]

Television

In the television series Star Wars Rebels, Wedge is voiced by Nathan Kress.[12] He first appeared in the episode The Antilles Extraction, the fourth episode of the third season. The episode establishes Wedge's canon backstory as an Imperial TIE fighter pilot who with the help of Sabine Wren defected from the Empire, and joined the Rebel Alliance.[2] Wedge later appeared in the episode "Double Agent Droid," the nineteenth episode of the third season, and again in both parts of the third season finale Zero Hour, the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes, respectively. Wedge's last appearance in Rebels was in the first part of "In the Name of the Rebellion", the third episode of the fourth season.

Novels

Wedge is featured in the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig, consisting of the novels Aftermath (2015), Life Debt (2016), and Empire's End (2017).[13][14][15] In this series, Wedge establishes a new unit called Phantom Squadron, which sees action on the planets Kashyyyk and Jakku. Following the Battle of Jakku, which ends the Galactic Civil War, Wedge relocates to Hosnian Prime, where he serves as a flight instructor.

Wedge makes a brief appearance in Claudia Gray's 2015 novel Star Wars: Lost Stars, in which he recruits Thane Kyrell, one of the novel's protagonists, into the Rebel Alliance.

Wedge later moves to the planet Akiva where he retires with Norra Wexley. The two appear in the 2019 novel Star Wars: Resistance Reborn where they join a Resistance mission to save some political prisoners on Corellia.

Legends

In April 2014, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded by Lucasfilm as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise.[16][17][18]

Wedge appears in the 1983 Marvel Star Wars comic "Hoth Stuff!", in which it is revealed that he went missing during the Battle of Hoth. Aboard his ship, Luke and Leia listen to his log tape recounting how he survived the Imperial invasion by hiding with Janson in the AT-AT Luke took down. They were prevented from contacting the Rebellion from orbiting TIE fighters and had to face wampas and other dangers. Janson was eventually killed by scavengers; Wedge then stole one of their ships to escape the planet and contact the Rebellion. He suddenly appears outside one of the windows, after working on the ship from space. Leia also states that Wedge and Luke grew up together on Tatooine, which Wedge seems to confirm in his log by mentioning a girlfriend he had there.

Star Wars Legends literature explains that Wedge's parents were killed when their starship-refueling depot exploded.[1] He piloted a freighter before joining the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot.[1]

Wedge is the lead character in most of the Star Wars: X-Wing novels by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, set in the Star Wars expanded universe. Several Dark Horse Comics series focus on Wedge and Rogue Squadron, and the character also appears in other expanded universe works including the New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force novels. Wedge is one of two main player characters in the Rogue Squadron video game series (Luke Skywalker is the other), and Wedge appears as a minor character in Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, helping the player during one mission. He is also a playable character in Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.[1]

  • IGN named Wedge the 24th greatest Star Wars character of all time, claiming "Wedge Antilles may be the most important ancillary character in the Star Wars universe".[19]
  • Wedge was portrayed by three voice actors in the Star Wars radio series from National Public Radio: Meshach Taylor in A New Hope, Don Scardino in The Empire Strikes Back, and Jon Matthews in Return of the Jedi.
  • Two characters named Biggs and Wedge appear frequently in RPGs made by Square. They are named for Antilles and another X-wing pilot, Biggs Darklighter.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Antilles, Wedge". Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  2. ^ a b "The Antilles Extraction". Star Wars Rebels. Season 3. Episode 4. October 8, 2016.
  3. ^ Bray, Adam (April 2, 2015). "Split Personalities: Star Wars Movie Characters Played By Multiple Actors". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  4. ^ Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.
  5. ^ Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.
  6. ^ Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.
  7. ^ @RFRRebelForce (October 5, 2019). "LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT THING. We just received a solid "YES" from a representative for the actor, Denis Lawson will be in #StarWars #TheRiseOfSkywalker reprising his role as Wedge Antilles" (Tweet). Retrieved October 5, 2019 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Johnston, Rich (December 9, 2017). "Denis Lawson, Wedge Antilles from Star Wars, Did Not Reject Doing the New Films After All". Bleeding Cool.
  9. ^ Leadbeater, Alex (December 16, 2016). "Rogue One: Cameos you probably missed". Screen Rant. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  10. ^ @DavidAnkrum1 (December 20, 2016). "PA Announcer on Yavin. Redirecting the pilots to Scarif!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 21, 2016 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Han, Angie (January 31, 2017). "'Rogue One': Where Was Wedge Antilles During the Battle of Scarif?". /Film. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  12. ^ "Nathan Kress on Twitter: 'I'll be playing Wedge in the upcoming season 3 of #StarWarsRebels. Check out the trailer!'". Twitter. 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  13. ^ Truitt, Brian (March 17, 2015). "Aftermath novel adds to Star Wars saga". USA Today. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  14. ^ Breznican, Anthony (September 4, 2015). "How Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: Aftermath novel sets the stage for The Force Awakens". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  15. ^ Breznican, Anthony (July 16, 2015). "Star Wars: Aftermath novel reveals tragic, violent uprising after Return of the Jedi". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  16. ^ McMilian, Graeme (April 25, 2014). "Lucasfilm Unveils New Plans for Star Wars Expanded Universe". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  17. ^ "The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page". StarWars.com. April 25, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  18. ^ "Disney and Random House announce relaunch of Star Wars Adult Fiction line". StarWars.com. April 25, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  19. ^ "Wedge Antilles - #24 Star Wars Character". IGN. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
  20. ^ Square Co (1994-10-11). Final Fantasy III (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Square Soft. Wedge: Hard to believe an Esper's been found intact there, 1000 years after the War of the Magi...
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