Video: Although there have been rivals to his popularity, Wedge Antilles is our favourite X-Wing pilot in the galaxy far, far away — so we can’t wait to see his younger self on the next episode of Star Wars Rebels. But a new clip reveals that the new canon’s Wedge has a much different background story compared to his old Expanded Universe origin.
In Rebels, Wedge now basically has Biggs Darklighter’s Expanded Universe history, although instead of being an Imperial Academy graduate who later defects to the Rebellion, Wedge is still a trainee pilot at the Imperial Academy. He contacts the Rebels looking for a way out — a way that arrives in the form of Sabine in disguise.
It’s a fun little twist in Wedge’s tale for fans of the character’s exploits beyond the movies, but it’s one that makes sense — in the EU, the younger Wedge only joined the Rebellion after years of dismissing it due to the fact that the Empire’s control of Corellia didn’t impact his life too much, until his girlfriend died in an Imperial attack.
It wasn’t the most heroic of beginnings in comparison to being an Imperial defector, but it’s cute of Rebels to nod to Wedge’s EU past with a mention of his history “hauling spare parts around the galaxy” — the reason Wedge wasn’t present at the attack that killed his girlfriend in the EU was due to his job as a freighter pilot.