Saw Gerrera

Saw Gerrera is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Saw was originally introduced as a minor character in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where he was voiced by Andrew Kishino. He was subsequently played by Forest Whitaker in the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, who also voiced the character in the animated series Star Wars Rebels and the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Saw Gerrera
Star Wars character
Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera in Rogue One (left) and a younger Gerrera as he appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (right).
First appearanceThe Clone Wars
– "A War on Two Fronts" (2012)
Created byGeorge Lucas
Portrayed byForest Whitaker
Voiced by
In-universe information
GenderMale
Occupation
Affiliation
FamilySteela Gerrera (younger sister)[2]
ChildrenJyn Erso (surrogate daughter)
HomeworldOnderon

In The Clone Wars, he is the brother of the leader of the Onderon rebels, Steela Gererra, with whom he helps free Onderon from the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and is mentored in military combat by the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (along with his Padawan Ahsoka Tano) and clone trooper Captain Rex. In Rogue One, Saw is a close friend of Galen Erso, the foster parent and mentor in military combat of Jyn Erso, as well as the leader of an extremist rebel cell called the Partisans unaffiliated with the Rebel Alliance due to Saw's violent military tactics, whose missions are explored in some episodes of Rebels and other Star Wars media.

Concept and creation

Though Saw appeared in animated form in The Clone Wars, that was not the original plan for him. Appearing on The Star Wars Show, Pablo Hidalgo of Lucasfilm’s Story Group revealed the character’s origin; "He started off before that. George Lucas had him in mind for his live-action TV series that was in development, which ultimately never happened, but he found a place to put Saw into a story in Clone Wars."[3]

Supervising director of The Clone Wars Dave Filoni stated: "We wanted a brother/sister duo on Onderon, and the character Saw was a character that George had already created, and he just wanted to involve and tell a little more about that character. So in the course of that we created Steela [to be Saw's sister], who would act as a natural foil to Ahsoka."[4]

Andrew Kishino, who voiced Saw in The Clone Wars, said that the character "[H]as even sort of, embodied in him, that feisty spirit of the Rebellion. The take-no-garbage kind of individual. He's stoic and strong and brash. He's 'that' guy, and it's that kind of strength tempered with Steela's calm, level-headed thinking, that is, to stand up to something that will ultimately become the Empire, absolutely critical and necessary.[5]

Saw Gerrera's name is a "mnemonic riff" on the Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara.[6] Gerrera is also a heterograph of the Spanish word "guerrera", meaning "female warrior", describing Steela.

Entertainment Weekly revealed the character's appearance in Rogue One on June 22, 2016.[7] The film's director, Gareth Edwards, had wanted a character to showcase the more "militant" and "extreme" side of the rebellion. Co-producer Kiri Hart suggested using Gerrera, a pre-established character, in this role.[6] Gerrera appears significantly older in Rogue One than he did in The Clone Wars, despite the two works taking place only roughly twenty years apart.[6]

Appearances

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Saw Gerrera (voiced by Andrew Kishino) first appeared in the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in the "Onderon arc" consisting of the episodes "A War on Two Fronts", "Front Runners", "The Soft War", and "Tipping Point". The character appears on all the episodes of the arc, along with his sister, Steela Gerrera, who was the leader of the Onderon rebels. The Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano), along with clone trooper Captain Rex, secretly train Saw and the other members of the resistance movement in military combat but refuse to get involved in the conflict, and leave Ahsoka to supervise the operation with instructions to not fight the battle for them.

Saw plays a vital part in the Onderon rebellion by convincing King Ramsis Dendup and militia General Tandin that the rebels are fighting out of loyalty to their rightful sovereign, and he and Steela lead Onderon to victory over the Confederacy of Independent Systems, though not without paying a heavy price for it when Steela dies saving the king.[8] Dave Filoni along with the writers, decided for the arc to end with the death of Steela, because in his words, he wanted to depict that "there had to be a price paid for their freedom".[4]

Star Wars Rebels

Saw is mentioned in the Star Wars Rebels second-season episode "The Honorable Ones", as being a factor in Agent Kallus's disdain for the rebellion's tactics against the Empire and part of the reason he participated in the genocide of the Lasat race of Ghost crew member Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios.

Saw makes an appearance in the third season, two-part episode "Ghost of Geonosis", with Forest Whitaker reprising his role from Rogue One in vocal capacity. In the episode, after the Rebellion loses contact with Saw and his squad investigating Geonosis, they decide to send the Ghost crew (including Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus, his Padawan Ezra Bridger, and Captain Rex) to rescue him. Given the continuity error of Saw having a different eye colour in Rogue One to his appearance in The Clone Wars, a mixture of the two was used to imply Gerrera's eye colour to be changing with age.[9][10]

Saw later appears in the fourth season's two-part episode "In the Name of the Rebellion", which is set shortly before the events of Rogue One. He rescues Ezra and Sabine Wren during their mission to assist him in learning about the Empire's super weapon, which he was investigating since Geonosis. Though learning it is powered by Kyber Crystals, Saw reached a dead end.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Gerrera reappears in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, portrayed by Forest Whitaker. Within the film, Gerrera leads the Partisans, an extremist rebel faction unaffiliated with the Rebel Alliance, on the planet Jedha. He plays on the frequent theme of duality between light and dark, a Rebel foil of Darth Vader whose body is mostly mechanized and who uses extreme methods in the pursuit of his goals. He is Jyn Erso's mentor, having rescued her as a child when her father Galen was abducted by Orson Krennic, the Imperial military director of weapons research. Gerrera has a reunion with Jyn on Jedha, where he passes along a message from Galen indicating a weakness in the Death Star. Meanwhile, the Death Star fires on Jedha City; while Jyn and her rebel companions escape, Gerrera chooses to stay and is killed when his hideout is annihilated in the wake of the blast. Krennic later boasts to Galen that Gerrera and his band of fanatics are dead.

Novels

Saw appears in the novelization adaptation of the film Rogue One by Alexander Freed.[11] Saw Gerrera appears along a seven-year-old Jyn Erso, in the novelization of the film Solo: A Star Wars Story, the short appearance reveals that Enfys Nest was working stealing the fuel for Saw.[12]

Star Wars: Bloodline

The character is mentioned in the novel Star Wars: Bloodline, set six years before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where it is noted that his methods of combating the Empire are viewed as having been "extreme".

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel

Gerrera appears in Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, detailing how he came to meet Galen, Lyra and Jyn Erso.

Rebel Rising

Gerrera appears in the novel Rebel Rising by Beth Revis. The novel's timeline takes place between Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel and the beginning of Rogue One.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Gerrera appears in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), again voiced by Forest Whitaker.[13] Despite the game taking place only five years after The Clone Wars, Gerrera is significantly older, closely resembling his Star Wars Rebels self. He is first seen on Kashyyyk alongside his Partisans attempting to liberate the Wookiees from Imperial occupation. During his quest to find the Wookiee chieftain Tarfull, Cal Kestis encounters Gerrera and his men, who ask for his help in freeing the Wookiees in exchange for tracking down Tarfull. Gerrera's men eventually find Tarfull, but are overhelmed by Imperial forces and retreat. By the time Cal returns to Kashyyyk to meet with Tarfull, Gerrera has left the planet, though some of his Partisans stayed behind to continue assisting the Wookiees.

References

  1. "Onderon Rebels". StarWars.com. June 16, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  2. "Steela Gerrera". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  3. "10 Things You Should Know About Saw Gerrera from The Clone Wars". StarWars.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  4. "Interview: Dave Filoni on Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Five, Part 1". StarWars.com. October 15, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  5. "Interview: Andrew Kishino - Saw Gerrera on The Clone Wars". StarWars.com. October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  6. Kushins, Josh (2016). The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. New York: Abrams. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-4197-2225-7.
  7. Breznican, Anthony (June 22, 2016). "Star Wars: Rogue One: Forest Whitaker's character revealed". EW.com. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  8. "Saw Gerrera". StarWars.com. June 16, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  9. Morrison, Peter (December 17, 2016). "SAW GERRERA COMING TO STAR WARS REBELS SEASON 3". Rebels Reports.
  10. Breznican, Anthony (December 20, 2016). "See Rogue One's Saw Gerrera return in animated Star Wars: Rebels". Rebels Reports.
  11. Osborn, Alex (December 20, 2016). Star Wars: Rogue One Novel Features New Scenes. IGN. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  12. https://www.starwars.com/news/solo-a-star-wars-story-exclusive-excerpts-2
  13. "Here Are the Recognizable Voice Actors in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order". IGN. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
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