‘Star Wars’: Fan-Favorite ‘Return of the Jedi’ Cameo Technically Isn’t Canon … Yet
After Lucasfilm finished making the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars fans experienced a drought of live-action movies that lasted until Disney started working on the sequel trilogy.
That being said, in the meanwhile, animated Star Wars TV shows were booming, and many fans fell in love with shows like The Clone Wars and Rebels. In fact, these shows have become so popular that Disney has started incorporating them into the live-action movies and shows. While this is a relatively new thing for Disney, some fans theorize that it’s actually happened a lot earlier in the past. Here’s a look at how a fan-favorite character may have made a cameo in Return of the Jedi, but not really.
‘Star Wars’: A recap of Captain Rex
In Attack of the Clones, George Lucas finally brought to life something he’s been hinting at for decades, the Clone Wars. As its name suggested, these wars were largely fought by clones. In the movie, the clones were largely treated as foot soldiers who had little personality. This all changed when The Clone Wars introduced a clone who actually had a personality.
That clone was Captain Rex, and he’d quickly become a fan-favorite character. Not only did he represent the human side of the clone troopers, but he was also a brave and loyal soldier who had a conscience that many people could emphasize with. Furthermore, in Rebels, Rex was now part of the Rebellion, and this allowed him to continue fighting for the good guys.
Did Rex have a cameo in ‘Return of the Jedi’?
Like Star Wars fans talked about on Reddit, there’s a fan theory that Rex actually had a cameo in Return of the Jedi despite the fact that Rex, as a character, was created decades after the movie premiered. This theory mainly centered around a short scene in the movie when the rebels are fighting the Empire on Endor.
The rebels are in a firefight with some stormtroopers, and while Han Solo takes cover behind a building, a group of rebels covers him. One of those rebels was an older man who had a large white beard, and this happens to look very similar to how Rex was portrayed in Rebels. Fans speculated that since Rex was definitely on Endor at the time, that old man was actually Rex.
There’s no confirmation that this is the case, however. As Star Wars fans discussed, in the animated show Galaxy of Adventures, Rex appears as that old man. However, there’s dispute as to whether Galaxy of Adventures is canon in the first place. Furthermore, like fans said, Dave Filoni, who was the showrunner for The Clone Wars and for Rebels, mentioned that the old guy is actually another character named Nik Sant.
Will Rex get a true cameo soon?
While many fans have decided to believe this fan theory anyway, Star Wars fans are still optimistic that Rex will make a true cameo in the near future. Filoni is working on The Mandalorian nowadays, and for one reason or another, many of the characters that he’s worked on are now appearing on-screen in live-action form for the first time.
For example, in Rogue One, Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker, had a major role in the movie. Saw first showed up in The Clone Wars, and this kicked off the trend of incorporating the animated shows with the live-action media. More recently, fan-favorite characters like Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano are showing up in The Mandalorian, so Rex has a good chance of following suit.
As for who’d play Rex in live-action, that’s an easy question. Since he’s a clone, he looks like Jango Fett, who was played by Temuera Morrison. And, in The Mandalorian, Morrison got the role of playing Boba Fett, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to get him to play Rex as well.
