Wedge Antilles

Wedge Antilles is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is a supporting character portrayed by Denis Lawson in the original Star Wars trilogy.^[1] Antilles was a starfighter pilot for the Rebel Alliance, and founded Rogue Squadron with his friend Luke Skywalker. Wedge is notable for being the only Rebel pilot to have survived both attack runs on the Death Stars at the battles of Yavin and Endor.^[1] He also appears in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, most notably as the lead character in most of the X-wing novels.

Depiction

Antilles first appears in Star Wars during the Rebels' Death Star attack briefing. In this scene Wedge is portrayed by Colin Higgins and voiced by David Ankrum, who dubs the character throughout the film. Denis Lawson plays the character for the remaining scenes filmed in the X-wing cockpit.^[1] Lawson also portrays Antilles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; the former featured Lawson's voice dubbed over by an unidentified actor, while Lawson used his own voice in the latter (with a false American accent). Coincidentally, Lawson is the maternal uncle of Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy.

Expanded Universe literature explains that Wedge's parents were killed when his parents' starship-refueling depot exploded.^[1] He piloted a freighter before joining the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot.^[1] Michael A. Stackpole's and Aaron Allston's X-wing books and several Dark Horse Comics series focus on Antilles and the rest of Rogue Squadron after the events depicted in the films. Antilles also appears in other Expanded Universe works, including the New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force novels. Antilles is the player's character in the Rogue Squadron and Rogue Leader video games (reprised by Denis Lawson in the latter) and is a playable character in Rebel Strike. He was also a minor character in Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, helping the player during one mission. He was a classic character in Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.^[1]

Appearances

Star Wars films

Wedge appears towards the end of Star Wars as "Red Two," an X-Wing pilot and a member of Red Squadron along with Luke Skywalker. His considerable dogfighting prowess is shown in the Battle of Yavin when he saves Luke by shooting down a TIE Fighter that Luke had been unable to shake off. Along with Luke, he is one of only three X-Wing pilots to survive until the final attack run along the Death Star's trench. However, his X-Wing is damaged, and he is forced to retreat before the Death Star is destroyed. He and Luke are the only two X-Wing pilots to survive the battle, along with a Y-Wing and the Millennium Falcon.^[2]

Wedge appears in The Empire Strikes Back as a member of the newly formed Rogue Squadron. He flies a Snowspeeder against the Empire's AT-AT ground assault with Wes Janson as his harpoon gunner. Their Snowspeeder inflicts the first casualty against the AT-AT attack group by firing a harpoon trailing a tow cable into one of the walker's legs and circling the walker several times, causing it to trip and fall and allowing Rebel forces to destroy the walker. After the battle, Wedge is seen and heard wishing Luke a safe trip.^[3]

Wedge appears towards the end of Return of the Jedi as the leader of Red Squadron in the Battle of Endor. Along with Lando Calrissian, who pilots the Millennium Falcon with Nien Nunb, he leads the fighter attack on the second Death Star. His dogfighting prowess is shown again in this battle, as Wedge personally shoots down a number of Imperial TIE Fighters, and appears to easily navigate the narrow and treacherous flight spaces inside the Death Star that lead to its core. When he and Lando reach the Death Star's core, Wedge destroys the power regulator on the core's northwest tower, while Lando destroys the core itself. He later appears at the victory celebration at the Ewok village on Endor.^[4]

Denis Lawson confirmed in May 2014 that he was asked to reprise the role of Wedge in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens; however, he turned it down, saying that it would have "bored him".^[5]

In popular culture

Wedge is a popular and important character of the original Star Wars trilogy despite his brief screen time. IGN named Wedge the 24th greatest Star Wars character of all time, claiming "Wedge Antilles may be the most important ancillary character in the Star Wars universe".^[6]

Wedge was portrayed by three actors in the Star Wars radio series from National Public Radio: Meshach Taylor in A New Hope, Don Scardino in The Empire Strikes Back, and Jon Matthews in Return of the Jedi.

Two characters named "Biggs and Wedge" (where "Biggs" is a reference to Red Squadron member Biggs Darklighter) appear frequently in RPGs made by Square.^[7]

In the CW television series Supernatural, the two protagonists use aliases when checking in to hotel rooms and when impersonating law enforcement. In the season four episode "Lazarus Rising," Sam Winchester disappears. His brother Dean calls Sam's cell phone company, claiming that his phone was lost the night before and he needs the phone's GPS activated. He gives the phone company the alias "Wedge Antilles," knowing Sam would have used that name.

References

External links

• Official website
• Wedge Antilles on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars wiki