Wedge Antilles

Wedge Antilles was a renowned human male starfighter pilot from Corellia who began his career in the Imperial Navy before defecting to the rebellion. He flew with the Rebel Alliance through the Galactic Civil War and later served the New Republic, surviving both Death Star battles, leading Rogue and Red Squadrons, and ultimately answering one last call to arms over Exegol decades later. (Star Wars Rebels, "The Antilles Extraction"; A New Hope; Return of the Jedi; The Rise of Skywalker)

Defection from the Empire#

Wedge Antilles hailed from Corellia, where he grew up wanting to fly, working at a fuel depot and on local farms and learning to pilot and repair starships. He was flying cargo ships when the Empire recruited him and sent him to train as a TIE pilot, but he grew to want out, and it was the rebel informant "Fulcrum", secretly the Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus, he turned to. In 2 BBY, after Imperial forces massacred a surrendering rebel crew, Antilles, then a cadet at the Skystrike Academy under the designation TIE SS-2-5, reached out to defect alongside fellow cadets Gahree and Klivian. (Aftermath; Resistance Reborn; Star Wars Rebels, "The Antilles Extraction")

The Mandalorian Sabine Wren infiltrated the Academy to extract them. After an escape attempt left them stranded and Gahree was killed as a warning, Wren took the blame to protect Antilles, and Kallus quietly helped the trio reach a hangar. Commandeering a TIE bomber, Antilles flew the slow craft under fire until rebel reinforcements arrived, and the survivors jumped to the Phoenix Cell's base on Atollon, where Antilles joined the rebellion. (Star Wars Rebels, "The Antilles Extraction")

Rise in the Rebel Alliance#

With the rebellion, Antilles flew a series of missions for the Phoenix Group and the new Rebel Alliance, including a fraught run to Killun 71 to steal Imperial clearance codes alongside the droids AP-5 and Chopper, and combat at the Battle of Atollon before retreating to Yavin 4. He became friends with fellow pilots such as Biggs Darklighter and Jek Porkins, and though an early crash broke his leg in three places and nearly ended his career, he talked his way back into the cockpit. (Star Wars Rebels, "Double Agent Droid" and "Zero Hour"; Aftermath; Ultimate Star Wars)

The Battle of Yavin#

When the Alliance launched its assault on the first Death Star, Antilles flew a T-65B X-wing as Red Two. He destroyed several enemy fighters, lost his friend Porkins, and saved the rookie Luke Skywalker by destroying a TIE that had locked onto him. In the final trench run he covered Skywalker's lead until damage forced him to pull out, leaving Skywalker to fire the shot that destroyed the station. His X-wing was one of only four ships to return to Yavin 4. Afterward he continued to fly with Red Squadron under Commander Arhul Narra, building a deep trust with Skywalker through missions such as the evacuation over Giju and the hijacking of the Star Destroyer Harbinger. (A New Hope; The Weapon of a Jedi; Star Wars #22 and #23, 2016)

The Battle of Hoth#

By 3 ABY, Antilles was assigned to Echo Base on Hoth as a veteran member of Rogue Squadron. When Imperial walkers assaulted the base, he flew a T-47 airspeeder as Rogue Three with his gunner Wes Janson. After conventional fire proved useless against the AT-AT armor, Skywalker ordered the use of tow cables, and Antilles and Janson became the first crew to bring down a walker, tangling its legs and firing the shot that destroyed it. As the base fell, Antilles helped the last rebel transport escape and regrouped with the fleet, and by the time of Endor he had been promoted to Commander. (The Empire Strikes Back; Return of the Jedi)

The Battle of Endor#

In 4 ABY, Commander Antilles led Red Squadron at the Battle of Endor, recruiting Norra Wexley among his pilots. When the Rebel fleet found the second Death Star's shield still active and was lured into a trap, Antilles fought through waves of TIE fighters and followed Lando Calrissian in a charge against the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Once the ground team destroyed the shield generator, Antilles and the Falcon flew into the station's superstructure; Antilles fired the proton torpedoes that destroyed the reactor's north tower, then raced clear as the Death Star exploded. He celebrated the victory with the Rebels and Ewoks at Bright Tree Village, sharing a reunion with Skywalker. (Return of the Jedi; Aftermath)

Service in the New Republic#

As the Alliance reorganized into the New Republic, Captain Antilles helped capture Imperial Star Destroyers for Project Starhawk and led pilots such as Vanguard Squadron. On a lone reconnaissance run under the alias "Gev Hessan," he found signs of the Imperial remnant on Akiva but was captured by Admiral Rae Sloane's forces and tortured by Yupe Tashu before being rescued by Norra Wexley's team. Recovering on Chandrila, he worked as a liaison, trained Norra's son Temmin as a pilot, and formed Phantom Squadron. (Star Wars: Squadrons; Aftermath; Aftermath: Life Debt)

Phantom Squadron joined Princess Leia Organa's effort over Kashyyyk, helping liberate the Wookiee homeworld, though the unauthorized action saw the squadron disbanded and Antilles reassigned. When Imperial forces gathered at Jakku, Temmin convinced him to reform Phantom Squadron for the battle. Antilles led his pilots in attacking Jakku's defenses so New Republic ground forces could land, surviving the decisive battle that ended the war. After the Galactic Concordance, he became head instructor of a new flight academy on Hosnian Prime. (Aftermath: Life Debt; Aftermath: Empire's End; Resistance Reborn)

Later years and Exegol#

Some years later Antilles married Norra Wexley and retired to a quiet life on Akiva. When Temmin and his wife Karé Kun brought news of the Resistance's losses and the death of Luke Skywalker, Wedge and Norra joined the fight. In 35 ABY, Antilles answered Lando Calrissian's call for allies and manned a gun turret aboard the Millennium Falcon at the Battle of Exegol against the Sith Eternal's fleet, arriving too late to save his stepson Temmin and surviving to see the victory celebrated on Ajan Kloss. (Resistance Reborn; The Rise of Skywalker)

Personality and skills#

Antilles was a gifted and dependable pilot whose defection he came to regard as the smartest move he ever made, though he carried regret that more of his friends had not joined him. Modest about his own role, he credited others for shared victories, mentored younger pilots with patience, and remained loyal to comrades across decades of war. His skill became legendary enough that the Resistance named a piloting maneuver, the Antilles Intercept, after him. (Star Wars: Squadrons; Return of the Jedi; Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary)