With the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels, we got a little backstory on one of the most
famous pilots in the Rebel Alliance: Wedge Antilles.
The character had a rich and detailed history in Legends, but the with a new canon, we can
expect some changes to be made.
So what has changed, and what has stayed the same?
Starting with canon, between the episode and both the Aftermath books, we can piece together that Wedge grew up on
Corellia, worked at a fuel depot for some time, and was a cargo pilot when he was recruited
by the Empire.
The Imperial training simulations at Skystrike Academy challenged his morals, and he got a message out to the Rebellion
which led to the extraction of himself and fellow defector Hobbie.
From there one of the Alliance’s Fulcrum agents gave him a mission which ended in Wedge
crash landing his A-Wing on a volcano and breaking his leg.
He then continued to serve the Rebel fleet as a gunner and navigator on a freighter until
he was fit to fly a starfighter again.
That’s about all we know for sure before A New Hope, but I do have some speculation
that I believe ties everything together nicely.
In Aftermath, Wedge tells Rae Sloane that the Empire hurt his family and a girl he once loved.
Based on his actions in the episode, it sounds like he had no problem working with the Empire
until his training simulations.
It definitely doesn’t sound like the Empire had hurt those he cared about at this point.
So what if the freighter he served on was the Ghost?
What if that’s the family he’s referring to?
And what if Sabine is the girl he loved?
There seemed to be some hints at a romantic future for them.
Again, that’s all speculation for now.
How does all of this differ with Wedge’s Legends story?
Wedge did, in fact, work on a fueling depot on Corellia.
He also witnessed the death of his family, but at the hands of pirates, not the Empire.
From there he worked as a cargo pilot and fell in love with a woman named Mala Tinero,
who was eventually killed in a bombing run by the Empire, which prompted him to join
the Rebellion.
So the broad strokes of his story before the films are actually very similar.
The only major difference is his time as an Imperial.
How about after Return of the Jedi?
In the canon, Wedge spent months searching for Imperial holdouts until he bit off more
than he could chew on Akiva.
He was captured by the Imperial Future Council, and that’s when he had his discussion with
Rae Sloane.
He was rescued with the help of a young Temmin Wexley, who he then took under his wing.
And he began an X-Wing squadron called Phantom Squadron out of a group of misfit pilots.
Finally, we know that he had a flight maneuver named after him called the Antilles Intercept
that was taught to pilot trainees in the New Republic about thirty years after the Battle
of Endor.
We again find similarities between Legends and canon.
In Legends Wedge continued to root out and fight against the scattered Imperial forces,
although his victories were much more significant, including the capture of Coruscant and the
death of the head of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard.
Wedge also formed an X-Wing squadron out of misfits and washouts called Wraith Squadron.
I believe Phantom Squadron is a direct reference to the Wraiths.
But naming them Phantom could also be a connection to his time with the Ghost, who besides just
the name of their ship had a shuttle called the Phantom and used Specter as a codename.
Phantom Squadron works well as a nod to the Legends Wraiths as well as a connection to
his canon past.
Legends Wedge continued to serve the New Republic and rose to become a General.
He fought in the rest of the Galactic Civil War, the Yuuzhan Vong War, and the Second
Galactic Civil War before retiring with his family.
So clearly a lot about his story is going to have to change.
Since we don’t have the full story right now, I’ll speculate on the future of the
character.
Wedge’s actor, Dennis Lawson, decline making an appearance in Episode VII.
Outside of having a flight maneuver named after him, he hasn’t been mentioned in any
content around the time of The Force Awakens.
I think this leaves two options for him.
Retirement or death.
While I would love for Wedge to live "happily ever after", I think a heroic death would be a
more fitting end to the canon version of his character.
Part of it is because no matter what they do with him from this point forward, people
like me are going to do exactly what I’m doing now and compare it to Legends.
Lucasfilm can avoid the comparisons and do something bold and completely different by allowing Wedge
to go out a hero.
I think they’re definitely laying the groundwork with giving him a legacy in Temmin and Phantom
Squadron.
Someone to pass the torch to.
I think it’s all going to come down to Aftermath: Empire’s End and the Battle of Jakku.
If he were to die, the final battle of the Galactic Civil War would be the time to do
it.
But if Wedge survives, he’ll probably be safe for a nice peaceful retirement somewhere,
that we can all agree that he’s earned.
That's it for today.
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