Wedge Antilles

"It's like you said: the Death Star had to be stopped. Just as the Empire must be destroyed. If that's going to happen, some of us have to get blood on our hands. We have to be willing to kill, and willing to die. It's not easy and it never will be. But I can tell you this much, Kyrell. It's easier than standing by and doing nothing."

- Wedge Antilles, to Thane Kyrell

Wedge Antilles was a renowned human male starfighter pilot from Corellia who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the New Republic during their fight against the Galactic Empire. He became a member of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War and fought in the Battle of Yavin, where he flew in Red Squadron alongside Luke Skywalker. After Skywalker destroyed the Death Star, he and Antilles were left as the only survivors of Red Squadron.

In the years that followed, Antilles became a respected member of Rogue Squadron, flying as Rogue Three during the Battle of Hoth. Antilles and his gunner aboard an T-47 airspeeder, Wes Janson, became the first duo to successfully destroyed one of the All Terrain Armored Transports that were attempting to destroy Echo Base, the Rebel outpost on the planet Hoth. Six months after the evacuation from Hoth, Antilles stole an Imperial shuttle, Tydirium, which was used in the ground assault during the Battle of Endor. Antilles commanded Red Squadron during the Battle of Endor, and he and General Lando Calrissian destroyed the second Death Star during the battle. The decisive battle led to the death of the Emperor, Darth Sidious, and left the Empire shattered in their defeat.

The Rebel Alliance soon reorganized into the New Republic, and Antilles continued to serve in their war against the Empire. Antilles undertook a lone reconnaissance mission to the planet Akiva, where he was captured while observing a gathering of Imperial forces that were preparing for a counterattack against the Republic.

Early life
Wedge Antilles hailed from the planet Corellia, where he grew up getting his hands dirty at a fuel depot and working local farms in his spare time, and where he became a pilot and a mechanic. Antilles joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic, not only because the Galactic Empire hurt people close to him—his family, friends, a girl he once loved—but also because he was recruited by a friend, Commander Ahsoka Tano, who operated under the codename of "Fulcrum."

On one of his first missions as a pilot for the Alliance, he crashed an A-wing at the lip of a volcano, a crash that left him limping for months, as his leg had broken in three places. It almost cut short his career as a Rebel pilot, but he somehow convinced the rebels to let him work a freighter manning the guns and as occasional navigator. While in the service of the Rebellion, he became friends with fellow pilots Biggs Darklighter, Jek Porkins, and Derek Klivian.

Yavin 4
"Look at the size of that thing!"

- Antilles, upon seeing the Death Star for the first time

During the Galactic Civil War, while Antilles was stationed in Yavin 4, the Rebel Alliance stole the plans to the Death Star, an Imperial battle station capable of destroying entire planets. Once analyzed in the Great Temple of Massassi to find a weakness, they devised plan of attack against the Death Star, which had tracked Princess Leia Organa after her escape aboard the Millennium Falcon, back to the Rebel base. Antilles attended a briefing by General Jan Dodonna in which Dodonna overviewed the plan of attack. It involved starfighters assaulting the Death Star and firing a proton torpedo into a two-meter-wide reactor shaft that led to the Death Star's core. Antilles expressed skepticism that they could hit a target that small, but Luke Skywalker, a pilot who had helped Organa escape the Death Star, told him that he often was able to shoot similarly-sized womp rats on his homeworld of Tatooine.

Antilles was assigned to Red Squadron and flew a T-65B X-wing starfighter under the callsign Red Two when the Alliance launched the Battle of Yavin. With only fifteen minutes to spare, Antilles destroyed a number of enemy targets but, in the process, lost his friend Porkins to enemy fire. When Skywalker was unable to shake a TIE/LN starfighter that pursued him, so Antilles destroyed the TIE fighter and saved the rookie pilot.

As Gold Leader Jon Vander failed in his attempt to fire a torpedo into the reactor shaft and was killed by Darth Vader on his TIE Advanced x1, Antilles joined Skywalker and Darklighter in a trench run, covering Skywalker on the lead. Darklighter was killed and Antilles was forced to pull out after his fighter was damaged, apologizing before leaving Skywalker to fire the shot that destroyed the Death Star&mdash;with help from the timely arrival of the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Skywalker's friends Han Solo and Chewbacca. With only four remaning ships returning victorious to Yavin, Antilles and Skywalker were the only two of twelve Red Squadron members to survive the assault.

After the battle ended, the Alliance began evacuating the planet, as the Empire knew of their location and were sure to retaliate as a result of the Death Star's destruction. During the evacuation, Princess Organa joined with Rebel pilot Evaan Verlaine and Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, to undertake a mission to rescue and unite the Alderaanians who survived the destruction of Alderaan. The trio stole a shuttle from the Rebel base, leaving on their mission in defiance of General Dodonna's orders. Antilles and Skywalker were sent to intercept the shuttle and return the escaping Rebels to the Great Temple, but Verlaine, who piloted the shuttle, outmaneuvered the two X-wing pilots and the shuttle jumped into hyperspace. Organa went on to successfully complete her mission.

Wedge recruited Thane Kyrell into the Alliance after he went on the run from the Empire.

Giju
"You know, for just an hour I'd like to know what it's like to fly with the Force watching my back." "It's almost as good as having you watching my back."

- Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker

Newly-appointed Red Leader Commander Narra asked Antilles and Skywalker to continue to fly with Red Squadron, while making it clear that neither of them should expect special treatment for surviving an encounter with the Death Star, even if they did destroy it, and the two accepted. After numerous missions alongside Skywalker and earning each other's complete trust, Antilles assisted on a mission for Red Squadron above Giju, under the designation Red Three. Antilles, Skywalker and Narra escorted a transport carrying underground rebel leaders being evacuated from the planet.

Once the package was clear and calculating its jump into hyperspace, the three followed the scatter protocol to meet at the rendezvous point, Devaron, at 2300 hours. As he arrived, he attached his X-wing to a freighter at a refueling station. Antilles soon met with Skywalker, who was then sent with his two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, and the Y 4 on a mission for Chancellor Mon Mothma; Antilles wished him good luck before parting ways.

Hoth
"Whoa! That got him!"

- Antilles, after destroying a downed All Terrain Armored Transport

Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Antilles was assigned to Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth, where he served alongside Skywalker as a veteran member of Rogue Squadron, which he fought with in a number of battles during the war. The base, however, was soon discovered by an Imperial probe droid and assaulted by Imperial forces, prompting the entire Rogue Squadron to engage the All Terrain Armored Transports, which approached the base in order to destroy its energy shield and allow Imperial forces to land.

Led by Skywalker, the squadron flew T-47 airspeeders and Antilles, as Rogue Three, and his gunner, Wes Janson, attempted to destroy the walkers using conventional laser weaponry, but the AT-AT armor proved too strong for blasters. Skywalker ordered his squadron to begin using tow cables to bring the walkers crashing down, and Antilles and Janson were assigned to the first attempt. Janson shot the tow cable onto one of the AT-ATs while Antilles piloted the snowfighter around the walker, tangling the walker's legs in the cables until the giant vehicle fell onto the snowy battlefield. The crash of the walker left its neck exposed, and Antilles fired the shot that hit the weak point and destroyed the AT-AT, becoming the first pilot in the battle to destroy one of the walkers.

The efforts of the Rogue Squadron were ultimately unsuccessful—the AT-ATs destroyed the shield generator, and Imperial forces led by Darth Vader overran Echo Base. As they did so, Antilles and the remaining Rebels escaped the ice world; aboard an X-wing fighter, Antilles, along with Janson and Klivian, helped the last Rebel transport, the Bright Hope, escape Hoth and regroup with the Alliance Fleet at a rendezvous point.

While stationed onboard the MC80 star cruiser Liberty, Antilles informed Thane Kyrell of Dak Ralter's death during the Battle of Hoth.

Zastiga
After becoming the leader of Red Squadron, Antilles went to Zastiga, where he met with Skywalker while the Alliance High Command held a top-clearance meeting. He would reunite with Nien Nunb and Skywalker for a discussion of "reconnaissance tactics" about Antilles' refusal to pay the Sullustan a drink after saving him at Hagar Secundus, which he had eluded several times.

In addition to the command of the Red Squadron, Antilles achieved the rank of Captain.

Endor
"Alright, Wedge. Go for the power regulator on the north tower.''" "''Copy, Gold Leader. I'm already on my way out."

- Lando Calrissian and Antilles, as they fired the shots that destroyed the second Death Star

Six months after the Battle of Hoth, Antilles stole a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle known as Tydirium from the Empire. The shuttle became part of a plan to attack the Death Star II, being built in orbit of the forest moon of Endor. Antilles was present at a briefing aboard the Rebel command ship, Home One, in which Chancellor Mothma introduced the plan and revealed that Emperor Palatine himself was aboard the Death Star to oversee the final stages of the station's construction, while Admiral Gial Ackbar laid out the plan to assault the superweapon in which General Lando Calrissian would enter the exposed reactor core and destroy it. Finally, General Crix Madine briefed the Rebels on the ground assault, with General Solo, Organa, Skywalker, and others using the Tydirium to bypass Imperial defenses, land on Endor, and destroy the deflector shield generator that protected the Death Star.

For the assault, Antilles appointed Norra Wexley. Along with the rest of the Alliance Fleet, Antilles and his squadron arrived to the Endor system, only to discover that the deflector shield was still operational, lured into the Emperor's trap. The Rebel fleet found itself under the attack by the Imperial fleet, and Antilles and his fellow pilots attempted to keep the Empire away from the Rebel cruisers, including Home One. However, Solo and his team successfully destroyed the shield generator, allowing Antilles, Calrissian and Nunb on the Millennium Falcon, and other Rebel pilots to travel along the Death Star's surface, aiming for the reactor core with TIE fighters in hot pursuit.

Antilles and Calrissian entered the superstructure, making their way through a maze in order to reach the core; as Antilles destroyed the power regulators on the north tower, the Falcon destroyed the core itself, which set off a chain reaction that left the two pilots in a race against time, flying towards the opening while chased by an all-consuming fireball. Antilles escaped first, followed closely thereafter by the Millennium Falcon, before the Death Star was consumed by a massive explosion, after the Emperor had died at the hands of Darth Vader moments before.

After the battle, the Alliance forces headed for the surface of Endor, where they joined Solo, Organa, and their team in Bright Tree Village, the home of the Ewoks who ahd helped them destroy the shield generator. Rebels and Ewoks alike held a celebration honoring their decisive victory over the Empire, and Antilles was in attendance. He shook hands with Chewbacca and shared a hug with his friend Skywalker, as all of the Rebel forces rejoiced in their victory before setting out on the difficult task to restore the Galactic Republic. For his part, Antilles looked forward to further service with Rogue Squadron.

Ascended to the rank of Commander, Antilles scouted an Imperial communications hub on Malastare, that would later be targeted in a mission spearheaded by the Blade Squadron.

Akiva
"The galaxy is home to good people. There's more of us than there are of you." "It's not about numbers or percentages. It's about faith. The few of us have infinitely more faith than the many of you." "I have faith in the New Republic." "And that faith will be tested." "Your face will be tested when I kick in your teeth."

- Wedge Antilles and Yupe Tashu

Months later, now an agentf the New Republic, Antilles believed the Imperial forces had moved to the Outer Rim and told Ackbar and Mothma he had devised a run to find the supply lines that were bolstering the Imperials. On the HH-87 Starhopper Rover, under the alias "Gev Hessan", Antilles set out on a reconnaissance mission that took him to Florrum, Ryloth, Hinari, Abafar, Raydonia and Akiva, where he finally found signs of the Imperial remnant, the Vigilance, which discovered his false identity as they used their tractor beam. Antilles, however, destroyed his ship once inside the Vigilance, avoiding capture by clambering through ventilation ducts and making his way to the communications room to send a message through the local channel traffic, hoping to find a sympathizer in the world below.

However, Admiral Rae Sloane found Antilles, and had him arrested; she also provided medical attention for him while they descended to the planet below, keeping him sedated during the Imperial Future Council's first meeting. After intermittent torture by Yupe Tashu, Sloane appeared in his cell and asked why Antilles had joined the Empire before leaving him alone. After another confrontation with Tashu, Antilles escaped after Sloane had destroyed part of the palace with one of the turbolaser cannons set up across Myrra, to stop Norra Wexley's assault. Though Antilles discovered a secret passage to escape, he decided to stay; he fought Adea Rite over her holoscreen and sent a summons to war to the Republic channels, before passing out and falling in Sloane's hands again.

Strapped down to a hovering table ushered forward by a pair of stormtroopers and a 2-1B medical droid, the badly-injured Antilles is later transported to the Golden Harp, when he saluted Norra Wexley. Kept in a separate room from everyone else, he was rescued by her son, Temmin, once the ship crash-landed on the Vigilance and brought onto a Lambda-class shuttle to be piloted by Jas Emari. Thanks to them, was brought to Hanna City in Chandrila, where he recovered from his wounds. He met back with Ackbar, but also, Norra Wexley, to whom they awarded a medal and informed of the battle's outcome, only to assign her a new mission—to hunt Imperial war criminals alongside her team from Akiva.

Personality and traits
"You have a way with words for just a pilot."

- Rae Sloane

Wedge Antilles was a human male with brown hair, brown eyes, and light skin. Through his service to the Rebel Alliance, he garnered the respect of his fellow Rebel fighters. Focused and calm during his flights,  and bitter at the Empire, Antilles was courageous and full of resolve, once resorting to bravado at the prospect of being tortured to death.

Skills and abilities
Antilles was a renowned pilot in the Rebel Alliance. He fought in numerous battles during the Galactic Civil War, earning him recognition from his fellow Rebels for his bravery and ace piloting abilities, being famed as legendary by some.

Behind the scenes
Wedge Antilles first appeared as a supporting character in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, where he was created as "Red Two (Wedge)." The character's origins can be traced to early drafts of Star Wars, which depicted a young pilot named Chewie. That nickname was later given to Chewbacca, so the character that had been known as Chewie took on the name of Wedge.

Antilles was portrayed by two actors in A New Hope. During the Rebel briefing, he was played by actor Colin Higgins, but he was replaced with Denis Lawson for the scenes depicting the Battle of Yavin&mdash;both actors were overdubbed by David Ankrum for the film. Higgins was used to the rehearsal periods in television acting and had not memorized his lines for the film, leading to him becoming nervous and dispirited while shooting the scenes in the Rebel briefing. After only one day in which he struggled to film the character's scenes, he was fired from the production. Lawson was brought in to film the remaining scenes for the character, despite having been initially passed over in favor of Higgins. Higgins' brief appearance as Antilles led some fans to dub him as the "Fake Wedge."

Lawson continued to play the character in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. He was surprised to return for The Empire Strikes Back, having assumed that Antilles died in A New Hope. The initial drafts of Return of the Jedi depicted Antilles in an earlier scene in the film, where he would have infiltrated an Imperial fleet. During the sequence, he would have flown and ultimately crashed a TIE fighter, necessitating his rescue at the hands of Princess Leia. In 2014, Lawson revealed that Lucasfilm had asked him if he would be interested in reprising his role for the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Lawson declined the offer, as he felt that the role would have "bored" him.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Lost Stars
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part I
 * The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Aftermath
 * Aftermath
 * Aftermath