Wedge Antilles

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. 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) of the Skystrike Academy. Antilles founded Rogue Squadron with his friend Luke Skywalker. His superior piloting skills, in-depth knowledge of Imperial military doctrine, and tactical leadership quickly propelled him though the ranks to become Marshal of the Alliance Starfighter Corps. Wedge is notable for having participated in more starfighter battles ending with decisive victories than any other character: he led the allied assault during the Battle of Exegol; he piloted a snowspeeder in the defense of Echo Base on Hoth; and is the only Rebel starfighter pilot to have survived both attack runs on the Death Stars at the battles of Yavin and Endor.

Depiction

Wedge Antilles was first seen in the 1977 film ''A New Hope'' in the Rebels' Death Star attack briefing. In this scene Wedge was portrayed by Colin Higgins and voiced by David Ankrum, who dubbed the character throughout the film. For the remaining scenes filmed in the X-wing cockpit, the character was played by Denis Lawson. Higgins was originally cast in the role of Wedge Antilles but reportedly had difficulty remembering his lines, and was consequently replaced by Lawson for subsequent scenes, but Higgins' scene remained in the final cut of the film. The discrepancy became a popular subject in ''Star Wars'' fandom, and Higgins acquired the nickname "Fake Wedge", a moniker that caused him some embarrassment.

Lawson reprised the role of Wedge Antilles in '' The Empire Strikes Back'', '' Return of the Jedi'' and ''The Rise of Skywalker''. Lawson used his own voice in these films, masking his natural Scottish accent with an imitation of an American accent. Ankrum reprised his role as the voice of Wedge in ''Rogue One.'' Coincidentally, Denis Lawson is the maternal uncle of Ewan McGregor, who made his first appearance in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy.

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 runs 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''.''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.

Wedge appears in '' The Empire Strikes Back'' as a member of the newly formed Rogue Squadron. He flies a snowspeeder under the callsign "Rogue Three" 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.''Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'' (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.

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.''Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'' (DVD, 20th Century Fox, 2004), disc 1.

Wedge appears, once again played by Denis Lawson, in the final installment of the ''Star Wars'' sequel trilogy, ''The Rise of Skywalker''. He is seen manning a gun turret on the ''Millennium Falcon'' during the battle between the Resistance and the Sith Eternal, shortly after the death of his stepson Snap. Lawson had previously been asked to appear as Wedge in '' The Force Awakens'', in the narrative role the character Poe Dameron was ultimately created for, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

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. 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''. In that film, he utters the phrase "Look at the size of that thing!" which would have made less sense if he had already seen the Death Star at Scarif.

Television

In the television series '' Star Wars Rebels'', Wedge is voiced by Nathan Kress. 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. 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). 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. He is the stepfather of Resistance fighter pilot Snap Wexley, played in the sequel trilogy by Greg Grunberg.

''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.

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. He piloted a freighter before joining the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot.

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 '' Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy'', helping the player during one mission. He is also a playable character in '' Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars''.

In popular culture

*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".
*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''.

References

External links

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Wedge Antilles
on IMDb

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antilles, Wedge
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