Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Writer Gary Whitta Reveals Cut Cameo Role

Cameos are a big part of the world of Star Wars, and there were plenty in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. From famous voice actors, to characters from previous films in the Star Wars franchise, and even the director of another Star Wars movie, it seemed like almost every scene had a little nod to something or someone in the past of the galaxy far, far away.

NEXT: All The Cameos in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Alas, some cameos – like scenes of every kind – wind up on the cutting room floor, as was the case for Gary Whitta, one of the writers on the film (credited in the movie under “Story” alongside EP and VFX Supervisor John Knoll). Whitta did get to visit the set of the film he helped bring to life, and he even got to suit up as a character in the film, as he revealed on twitter Thursday as a “Throwback Thursday” post.

The picture (taken by Jonathan Olley) showed Whitta suited up as a Rebel pilot, alongside Rayne Roberts, a member of the Star Wars Story Group that helps the films, TV, comics, novels, and games all play and coordinate coherently in the same universe. The picture was taken on the storied Yavin 4 Rebel base set, standing in front of one of the life-size X-wings they built for the movie.

His pilot? Gray leader, who “died heroically on the cutting room floor,” he later said jovially. In fact, none of Grey squadron is listed in the Star Wars: Rogue One – The Ultimate Visual Guide book by Pablo Hidalgo.

Rogue One director Gareth Edwards got a cameo in Star Wars: Episode VIII, so maybe there’s hope for Whitta in the future. Hopefully at the very least, an upcoming episode of Star Wars Rebels (he’s also written for the show) could include a character name based off his.

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in theaters now. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it’s the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core “Skywalker Saga” of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue One tells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star. The story spins directly off the opening crawl from the original Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. In that crawl, it read: “Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.”