Dee Bradley Baker Confirms That Captain Rex Made It To Endor

Captain Rex is a fan favorite when it comes to Star Wars animation. He was introduced in the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and went on to be a main character of the series, even making it to the series finale that aired earlier this year. During the gap between seasons 6 and 7, we had another animated series called Star Wars Rebels, and Rex returned in that series, aiding the Ghost crew and being a helpful hand for the Rebel Alliance.

Eventually, there was speculation that perhaps Rex is Nik Sant, the elderly looking rebel soldier (named Nik Sant via Legends materials) who is part of Han Solo's strike team at the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. While Rex did end up wearing a similar outfit on Rebels, the team behind the series decided not to right out confirm that Rex and Nik Sant are the same character. It seemed for the best, given that Nik Sant looks nothing like Temuera Morrison and it might have been somewhat controversial.

At the very end of the Rebels series, Hera mentions that Commander Rex made it to the Battle of Endor. While he is not shown during that time, a later Galaxy of Adventures animated short in 2019 titled "Ewoks vs. The Empire - Small but Mighty" depicted Rex as being part of Han's strike team. He looks very similar to Nik Sant, even using the same stance, but he has his clone gauntlets. This led to some confusion, and Matt Martin of Lucasfilm Story Group was asked about it. In response, Matt Martin said the following:

"If the implication you're going for is that he IS the guy from RotJ this looks pretty clear that he's a different dude."

He later added this, which makes some sense given that the Galaxy of Adventures series is known for exaggerating scenes from the films:

"I think it's just the usual GoA stuff, not meant to be taken literally."

As it stands, it still seems ambiguous whether or not Rex and Nik Sant are meant to be the same person. However, what is clear is that he was at Endor. Dee Bradley Baker himself reaffirmed this very recently, via a virtual convention called Hasbro PulseCon. When asked about which of the clones was hardest to say goodbye to, the clone trooper voice actor provided the following statement:

"I've not said goodbye to Captain Rex yet. Captain Rex made it all the way to Endor, so...he's still with me."

It seems pretty clear that Rex, Nik Sant or not, was very instrumental in the Battle of Endor, whether that be on the ground or perhaps even in the space battle. While I do not personally believe that we need to see exactly what he does in the battle (unless maybe it explicitly negates the Nik Sant theory that I am not a fan of), it is still nice to know that Rex is part of an important galactic event such as this one.

What I find interesting about Dee Bradley Baker's quote is that it seems as if he is not ruling out the idea that he may still be voicing Rex. In fact, I would be willing to bet that Rex will make an appearance in the upcoming The Bad Batch animated series, which is set for 2021. Baker's mention of Rex making it to Endor also feels like a reminder that there is a lot of space to work with within the Star Wars timeline during which we could see more animated Rex stories. Since Rex is such a popular character, it would not be surprising to see him pop up again. I am sure lots of fans would cheer again for another Rex return.

Written By Steven Shinder

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