Dave Filoni Shares His Thoughts on Forest Whitaker Playing Saw Gerrera

By: Dominic Jones

Earlier today it was revealed that Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker is playing the character Saw Gerrera, who first appeared in Season Five of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, in the upcoming film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  Though he was originally intended for George Lucas' never produced Live Action Star Wars series, Saw made his debut on the small screen on The Clone Wars in the episode "A War on Two Fronts".  The episode was directed by series Supervising Director (and current Executive Producer of Star Wars Rebels) Dave Filoni.

Following today's announcement, ComicBook.com's Lucas Siegel spoke with Filoni about how a character he first helped bring to life in animation would now be portrayed live action on the big screen by an Oscar winner.  Filoni said,

"I have always thought of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as an extension of the Star Wars films, and now, here we are, seeing a character come to life in the flesh on the big screen.  I think it’s tremendously exciting, because it’s fulfilling a promise to the fans, that this is one story, and the characters you know and love are throughout  it, and influencing the story in many ways. I’m so proud of the Rogue One team, and everyone at Lucasfilm. It’s a great day for Star Wars."

Filoni also tweeted his excitement,

I SAW that coming! Congrats to the #RogueOne team! pic.twitter.com/BwFjbBPB2S

— Dave Filoni (@dave_filoni) June 22, 2016

Saw has been mentioned a few times in recent Star Wars.  Agent Kallus revealed in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Honorable Ones" that he had a run in with Saw on Onderon sometime in the past.  Saw's extremists tactics were also mentioned in the novel Star Wars: Bloodline by: Claudia Gray, which is set six years before The Force Awakens. 

Source: ComicBook.com
 

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