For whatever reason, director Gareth Edwards chose to spoil a potentially big surprise and revealed Darth Vader at the end of the Rogue One trailer. It was about the most exciting possible moment you could imagine for a Star Wars film (or perhaps any film), but it also has to make you wonder: who else might return for this surreal journey back to where it all began?
This was actually a question people were asking all across the internet in advance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, before it was revealed that Luke, Han, and Leia would all be back in the fray. In fact, as part of the early hype cycle, there were even tipster odds and predictions noted by Gambling.com for which iconic characters were likely to appear in the movie. That time around, we pretty much got what we wanted and came to expect; there just couldn’t be an Episode VII without the three core protagonists from George Lucas’s original trilogy.
This time, however, new characters seem far less predictable. But after a recent discovery by a Twitter user (h/t Metro) seemed to discover that Bail Organa will appear in Rogue One (on top of the news that Senator Mon Mothma will be back), it’s fitting to start wondering just how many familiar faces we’ll be seeing. We won’t be setting odds, as was done for The Force Awakens, but here are a few names worth keeping in mind.
Grand Moff Tarkin
This one has been all but confirmed already. According to The Guardian, the studio is actually going to resurrect Peter Cushing by using CGI, in what amounts to a kind of creepy but kind of awesome stunt. Either way, it’ll be fun to see Grand Moff Tarkin again.
Boba Fett
A Boba Fett spinoff hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s one of the strongest rumours out there as a potential follow-up to the Han Solo film that will come after Rogue One. Fett is an easy inclusion because he’s kind of a wayward rogue and can be played by any actor. It would almost be silly for him not to be involved.
Chewbacca
“Wayward rogue” fits Chewbacca rather well too, though it sounds a little bit harsh. Odds are the studio will save any kind of pre-A New Hope background story on Chewie for the young Han Solo flick, but who knows? He could even pop up in the background of some space tavern.
R2-D2
You might have heard about R2-D2’s evil doppelgänger, per Collider, so why not have the real thing?
Biggs & Wedge
Both actors—Garrick Hagon and Denis Lawson—are still around, but naturally a little old to play their old roles. However, Biggs and Wedge were more names than characters. It would be easy enough to have a character mention them or call out to them simply as an homage to Luke’s old buddies.
Greedo
This would be so easy, and so delightful…
Han Solo
It’s unlikely, but the studio could always do what Marvel did with Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. That is, they could give our new young Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich, a small role in this film as a preview of his solo effort.
We’ll find out on December 16th if any of these old, beloved characters make the cut!
