By the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the ranks of the Resistance were pretty depleted, as despite eventually escaping the First Order, a ton of Resistance members were killed (pour some out for Admiral Akbar). However, it seems they’ll be getting at least one reinforcement, as an actor recently suggested his Force Awakens character will return in Episode IX.
Yahoo Entertainment reports that, while at San Diego Comic Con, actor Greg Grunberg all but confirmed that his character, Resistance pilot Temmin “Snap” Wexley, will return to Star Wars after being MIA in The Last Jedi. Grunberg, a friend and frequent collaborator with Force Awakens and Episode IX director J.J. Abrams, hinted that Star Wars was the only reason he’d regrown his beard, and he wanted to go over to England where the movie begins production next month.
“You know what — we’d better or else my wife is going to kill me for growing a beard,” Grunberg said when asked of his involvement. “I can’t officially say anything, but this is getting itchy, and I’m getting itchy to go over there and do it.”
Snap Wexley wasn’t an A-list character in The Force Awakens, but he was distinct enough that his absence in Last Jedi was a little odd. He helped plan the attack on Starkiller Base and he provided cover for Poe Dameron during the final assault. Expanded materials revealed that he was trained by the war hero Wedge Antilles, and the character is a major player in the Aftermath books. It seemed implied that he was one of the off-screen casualties in The Last Jedi, although the novelization of the movie revealed that Leia had sent him away on a mission to gather the Resistance’s scattered commanders from around the galaxy.
Hopefully, when he returns in Episode IX, he’ll have brought a couple of those commanders with him (Lando?), because otherwise the Resistance is, like, nine dudes.
Star Wars: Episode IX opens on December 20, 2019.
