Boba Fett
Fans love Boba Fett, and Lucasfilm knows that fans love Boba Fett. He was inserted into the special edition of A New Hope, and it’s surely only a matter of time before he features in his own Anthology movie (Fantastic Four helmer Josh Trank was even attached to direct, before being dropped from the project). It wouldn’t be too hard to incorporate Fett into the story – The Empire could hire him for one of several reasons, and so could the Rebellion for that matter – and a cameo from the bounty hunter would likely be a crowd-pleaser. Personally though, if they have to have him appear somewhere before he gets his own film, I’d rather it was the Han Solo movie.
R2-D2 and C-3PO
It’s a Star Wars movie. These are the only two characters to have appeared in every Star Wars movie. One day we will see a Star Wars movie without them, but it won’t be Rogue One (it’ll probably be Han Solo, but even then I’d not be surprised if they make it in there somehow). At the start of A New Hope, the droids are on board the Tantive IV, which is transporting the stolen Death Star plans. And even if the movie doesn’t end how we expect it to, they could appear earlier alongside Bail Organa. I’ll be absolutely astounded if we don’t see them. And that leads us on to…
Princess Leia
As with R2-D2 and C-3PO, it would make total sense if Princess Leia appears at the end of the film. She literally has the plans on her person when the story resumes at the beginning of A New Hope. While it’s possible that we could see Jyn handing the plans over to an intermediary, who then delivers some line like “I’ll be sure to give these to Princess Leia”, how unsatisfying would that be?! Whereas if the visual effects wizards can pull off a digital recreation/de-aging of Carrie Fisher for brief scene, it has the potential to be the perfect finale to the film.
Han Solo (and Chewbacca)
Prior to Alden Ehrenreich’s casting for the Han Solo movie, there were rumours that we could get a brief cameo from the Corellian smuggler (who would presumably be joined by Chewbacca), and that his scene(s) may have been shot as part of the reshoots. However, director Gareth Edwards denied the rumour, and I hope he isn’t trying to preserve the surprise. Han has no business being anywhere near this story, and quite simply it’s not something I want to see. A Han cameo is completely unnecessary, and would serve no purpose except introducing us to a non-Harrison Ford Han Solo right when he should be looking exactly as he does in A New Hope.
Bonus 1 – The cast of Star Wars Rebels
Given that Rogue One and Star Wars Rebels take place pretty close together time-wise, there’s been a lot of speculation about the prospect of characters from the Disney XD animated series showing up in the movie. While it’s certainly possible, we don’t yet know how Rebels will end, or which characters will even be alive by the time of Rogue One, so I think it’s unlikely. We’ve been told on numerous occasions that there’ll be no Jedi, so we can pretty much rule out Kanan and Ezra, but I suppose we could see Hera flying a ship at some point (especially as one of the latest TV spots appears to show The Ghost flying alongside the Rebel fleet). A cameo from a Rebels character would be a nice nod to fans of the show, but I’m guessing it won’t happen. That being said, a lookalike of the Captain Rex Rebel soldier from Return of the Jedi popping up in the background of a scene somewhere would be a fantastic Easter egg.
Bonus 2 – Supreme Leader Snoke
Now, again, this one is pretty unlikely, and an appearance from Supreme Leader Snoke could potentially spoil some of the mystery surrounding the character ahead of Star Wars: Episode VIII. Still, he’s meant to have been around before and during the Empire, and has detailed knowledge of the events of the OT despite the fact he’s nowhere to be seen in the films, so this would certainly be a way to rectify that. If – and I feel it’s a pretty big if – he is in it, then he’s surely got to be in the bacta tank, right? Although recent signs seem to suggest that could be occupied by someone else…
Do you think we’ll see any of these characters appearing in Rogue One? Have I missed any possible cameos that you’d like to see? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set for release on December 15th in the UK and December 16th in the States, with a cast that includes Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Diego Luna (Milk), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Alan Tudyk (Con Man), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Genevieve O’Reilly (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith), Jimmy Smits (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones), James Earl Jones (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope), Valene Kane (The Fall), Alistair Petrie (The Night Manager), Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode IV – Return of the Jedi) and Jonathan Aris (Sherlock).
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
Originally published December 7, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
