As we learned earlier this summer, beloved space villain Darth Vader will be making an appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to oversee the construction of the Death Star and intimidate Ben Mendelsohn’s Director Krennic into doing a good job. (That’s the Empire’s management style.) Now, it looks like another famous Star Wars guy will be returning to the series in Rogue One as well, but this time he’s on the side of the heroes.
So, if you’d rather go into Rogue One without knowing any spoilers—other than that most of the characters will never be heard from again, the Death Star eventually gets blown up, and the Space Monkey is Luke Skywalker’s real father—you should turn back now.
The character in question is Bail Organa, a former Republic Senator played by Jimmy Smits in the prequels. On a recent episode of The Talk, Smits reluctantly confirmed that he’ll be appearing in Rogue One, though he was clear that it’s a “cameo” and a “small part.” The Star Wars Rebels cartoon has shown Organa as an integral part of the Rebel Alliance’s early days, so it’s not too surprising that he’d have a hand in Rogue One’s plot, but his appearance is also notable because it opens the door for a cameo from a young Princess Leia, who was adopted by Organa after Revenge Of The Sith.
A Leia cameo almost certainly won’t happen, but Rogue One could easily throw in a line where Organa mentions how eager he is for the wars to end so he can spend the rest of his days relaxing on Alderaan, spending time with this adopted daughter, and not getting blown up by giant lasers.
You can see a clip of Smits’ segment on The Talk below.