Word broke over the weekend that Star Wars Rebels might deepen its connection with Rogue One by the animated return of Saw Gerrera, himself originally a creation of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Now, not only is Rebels confirming Saw’s return in 2017, it seems Forest Whitaker himself will reprise the role! Get a first look in a new clip.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Whitaker’s slightly-younger (and un-accented?) Gerrera will indeed appear in the two-part 2017 return “Ghosts of Geonosis,” the first half of which will air on Saturday, January 7. In it, Saw is indeed chasing after what will eventually come to be known as the Death Star, while Rebels Supervising producer Dave Filoni says of Whitaker and Saw’s return:

Forest really wanted to know a lot about the character. He watched The Clone Wars episodes with his character and I had some detail for him about things George [Lucas] and I discussed. It gave him more time to develop the character as far as, ‘How did he get there?’ […]

He’s not quite as beat up as you see him [in Rogue One]. I never wanted to go into a lengthy thing about this is how Saw lost his foot. It’s more about his philosophy and who he is and what he thinks about the Rebellion — and how they go about resisting the Empire.

Gerrera’s appearance is one of several ways Rogue One has interacted with Rebels, including – spoiler alert – a “General Syndulla” mentioned in passing, as well as background appearances from Chopper and their ship, The Ghost.

We’ll see more from Saw’s return soon, but what other Rogue One connections might Star Wars Rebels pull out in the future?

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