Wes Janson

"Good shot, Janson!"

- Wedge Antilles to Wes Janson during the Battle of Hoth

Wes Janson was a human male pilot from Taanab who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. Around 3 ABY, Lieutenant Janson participated in the Galactic Empire's attack on the Alliance's base in the Battle of Hoth, serving as a gunner for Wedge Antilles, who was piloting a T-47 airspeeder in Rogue Squadron.

During the battle, he was the first member of Rogue Squadron to successfully take down an Imperial walker with the harpoon and tow cable gambit devised by Commander Luke Skywalker.

Following the battle, Janson (along with Antilles and Derek Klivian) boarded an X-wing starfighter to escort the last transport, the Bright Hope, away from Hoth.

Behind the scenes
"I play a stormtrooper, in a walker, who's trying to shoot down my own bloody plane."

- Ian Liston, the actor who portrays Janson, on The Empire Strikes Back

Wes Janson was portrayed by Ian Liston in The Empire Strikes Back. During filming of The Empire Strikes Back, a call was put out for an actor, not an extra, to play an AT-AT gunner. That was Liston's original role in the film, but he was later asked by an assistant director with whom Liston had previously worked to take the role of Janson since the original actor had fallen ill. Thus he ironically played both an Imperial and a Rebel, and in one sequence of the film is in effect trying to shoot himself down. Regarding his scenes as Janson with Wedge Antilles, Liston revealed in 2005 that he and actor Denis Lawson were never actually on set together&mdash;Liston's double took his place when the scene focused on Lawson (Antilles) and vice versa.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back