Bistan, the “space monkey,” may not be the main hero of the latest Star Wars film, but he’s definitely emerging as a star fighter in the Rebellion. The Rogue One crew just can’t get enough of him.
The latest Star Wars featurette dives further into some of the creature designs for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. One of the cutest additions to the Star Wars canon is Bistan, a gunner on a new starship known as the U-Wing, a gunship and troop transport. And he cackles like a pro. Bistan was first introduced at Star Wars Celebration Europe in July, and audiences simply loved him—as well as the Rogue One team. Director Gareth Edwards has called Bistan one of his favorite characters in Rogue One, and Felicity Jones couldn’t gush enough about the howling member of her crew.
“You’ll look up and one of the creatures is a huge monkey shooting an enormous gun out of a plane, and then you remember, ‘Oh we’re actually in Star Wars,’’” Jones said.
Bistan is a member of the Iakaru, a brand-new race created just for the film. According to the Star Wars Databank, the Iakaru are fighting to free their people from the oppression of the Empire. However, Bistan is more of a thrill-seeker, and doesn’t care who he’s fighting for so long as he gets a taste of the action. Edwards wouldn’t share what happens to Bistan, but considering the darker tones of the film, his chances of survival look pretty low. If that happens, hopefully he’ll go down cackling.
