Gavyn Sykes

Gavyn Sykes^[3] is a human male who served in the Royal Naboo Security Forces as an N-1 starfighter pilot. He flew in Bravo Squadron during the Invasion of Naboo^[1] as Bravo Six. At the time, he had been assigned the astromech droid R2-C4.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Gavyn Sykes first appeared as a supporting artiste in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[1] Originally known as "Bravo Six," he was portrayed by the uncredited British actor Christian Simpson. He was first identified as Gavyn Sykes in the Star Wars Legends 2000 video game Star Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo.^[4] In the current canon, Sykes was first identified on the product page of an ARTFX+ series R2-C4 figure released by the Japanese toy company KOTOBUKIYA CO., LTD. in December 2014. On that page, he is referred to as ギャヴィン・サイケス in Japanese katakana characters, and the English spelling is not specified.^[3]

Sykes was Simpson's first role in his career, being chosen during a casting session in London, England.^[4] Simpson had seen an article in a newspaper that stated that actors were being scouted for the film so he contacted his acting agent^[5] Laura^[6] to whom he delivered his curriculum vitae, letting her secure him the audition and eventually his casting.^[5] Simpson filmed several cockpit scenes, but those were cut due to time constraints.^[7] Simpson, however, can still be spotted twice in the film, first running to his first starfighter and then standing at the celebration ceremony in the line of the surviving pilots.^[1] Although Simpson was uncredited for his portrayal as "Bravo Six,", he did receive a credit as a stand-in, which he personally discussed with producer Rick McCallum.^[5] Simpson felt grateful at being featured in The Phantom Menace, having dreamed since he was a child about being in a Star Wars film,^[8] being left with intense memories of the hangar scene's filming, as mini-explosive pellets were fired at his direction and even exploded on his hat, with sparks flying across his face and, since Skywalker's destruction of the droid control ship is viewed by some fans as his first step into his fall to the dark side of the Force, Simpson jokingly apologized for Sykes being partially responsible for Darth Vader's creation.^[4] Some fans queried if Sykes was canonically involved in Skywalker's victory due to his role not being clearly evident in the finished film, so when asked by a fan in his blog, Simpson asked Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee who verified and replied affirmatively.^[7]

Because of Simpson's involvement in The Phantom Menace, McCallum would later contact him once more^[6] to work as the stand-in of Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith^[9] on the United Kingdom set of the film^[6] and being given a VIP blog at StarWars.com, where he was allowed to share behind-the-scenes information from the film's sets.^[10] Simpson would later be invited to the premiere showing of Revenge of the Sith in Berlin, Germany.^[6] Simpson would later return to the franchise after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm, voicing aliens, stormtroopers and Resistance pilot C'ai Threnalli as well as co-producing Nien Nunb's dialogue with Matthew Wood in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens,^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14] reprising his role as Threnalli again in the 2016 video game LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens,^[15] voicing one of Saw Gerrera's rebels and some Death Star Imperials in the 2016 Star Wars Anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,^[16] and co-scripting and directing Nien Nunb's dialogue for Kipsang Rotich for the 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.^[17]

In his blog, Simpson expressed an interest in reprising his role as Gavyn Sykes again in the live-action Star Wars television series that was being planned by George Lucas back in 2009.^[10] However, Lucas announced the project to be on hold due to budget constraints in 2010^[18] and Pablo Hidalgo confirmed its cancellation in 2012 by 2019.^[19]