8 Obscure Star Wars Characters Most Likely to Cameo in Resistance

If you're on the fence about the new animated series Star Wars Resistance, lead actor Christopher Sean (Kazuda Xiono) has a message just for you:

"Give the show a chance, because it's going to open your eyes to the glossary, the index of Wookieepedia. You're going to learn about every other character or creature that you want to know, and we're going to help you with that, and it's going to make you a fully rounded Star Wars fan."

Thanks to the careful coordination of the Lucasfilm Story Group, the Star Wars franchise is currently managed as one interconnected timeline spanning movies, TV, books, comics and video games. Characters in one medium can show up in another at a moment's notice. Pay close enough attention to all the Star Wars things, and perhaps you'll begin to grasp the master plan for how all the pieces interlock into one cohesive galaxy.

REVIEW: Yes, Star Wars Resistance Is for Kids -- But That's Why It's Interesting

Set six months before The Force Awakens, the premise of Resistance seems custom-built for Star Wars cameos. "We treat the Colossus like it's a gas station in the middle of nowhere," explains executive producer and supervising director Justin Ridge. "They're a truck stop and you have a bunch of different truckers and pilots and people from different backgrounds."

"They can't run into everybody. I don't even run into people in my neighborhood," warns executive producer and head writer Brandon Auman, trying to manage expectations. "If you start bringing in too many characters from the books and the novels and this giant massive galaxy, it starts getting a little fan-fiction-y."

Instead, cameos are limited to characters that "feel organic and natural," Auman says. "It can't just be 'here's the cameo' just because we can do it."

Plenty of characters you'll recognize will cameo in Resistance; those already confirmed include Poe Dameron, BB-8, Captain Phasma, Leia Organa and C-3PO. But what about all those characters from the backgrounds of Star Wars movies that you just missed because you were paying attention to the story? Or all the characters in the books and comics you never read? Which of them are most primed to organically step into the world of Resistance?

In the spirit of helping you become a "fully rounded Star Wars fan," here are our top predictions for the obscure characters most likely to cameo in Resistance. (Eventually.)

Each character profile includes one key appearance for you to track down for homework, usually whichever story features them most prominently. And because you'll be asking: Yes, every detail in this article is meticulously researched and absolutely true.

1. IVEE

Appears in: Marvel's Poe Dameron Vol 4: Legend Found (comic)

A few months before the events of Resistance, BB-8 had a girlfriend, an astromech named IVEE, or as she calls herself, "RAH WHEEO EEP BREET!" Some people assume that IVEE is little more than a cute green version of R2-D2, and those people are right.

Star Wars Resistance takes place during a tough period in BB-8 and IVEE's relationship... recently BB-8 inadvertently got IVEE killed. Here's how that story goes: An X-Wing pilot in Poe Dameron's Black Squadron named Jessika Pava is infamous for losing her droid co-pilots in battle -- and all the droids on the base collectively refuse to work with her. BB-8, hoping to spend more time with IVEE, talks her into volunteering for the vacancy. Sure enough, on her second combat mission, IVEE heroically throws herself in front of a missile to save Pava, and her droid body is blown to pieces. A fragment of IVEE's remains is delivered to a devastated BB-8, who blames himself for her death. But that fragment happens to be IVEE's tiny processing unit: her brain.

The Poe Dameron comic left that thread dangling, never revealing what BB-8 chose to do with IVEE's brain. BB-8 has plenty of internal storage compartments; does he carry her tiny brain around everywhere he goes? Is he looking for just the right droid chassis to use as a body to bring IVEE back to life?

In the Resistance premiere, BB-8 makes the acquaintance of ace pilot Torra Doza's droid -- a cute green version of R2-D2. Hmm...

( Wookieepedia)

2. Loo Re Anno

Appears in: Marvel's Han Solo (comic)

You can be sure the racers of Resistance would lose their minds to meet the most legendary racer in the galaxy: Lo Re Anno. There's just one big problem: More than 30 years ago, while racing against Han Solo, Anno entered an ancient wormhole machine thing to leave the galaxy for good. She had finally joined the rest of her ancient racing species in a realm beyond space and time, known only for its giant lightning jellyfish.

A few minutes after leaving the galaxy forever, Anno came back through the wormhole with a fleet of ships to save Han Solo, then left again forever -- for reals this time.

Sure, Loo Re, we believe you.

( starwars.com)

3. Therm Scissorpunch

Appears in: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Not only is this giant lobster's name Therm Scissorpunch, he also demands that everyone use his full name at all times. Therm can be spotted -- ahem -- Therm Scissorpunch can be spotted next to Lando at the Sabacc table in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but his cult potential transcends that brief appearance.

The Colossus is a known hub for gamblers, so you can bet he gets a cameo something like this:

In a busy crowd, Kaz bumps into Therm Scissorpunch, who exclaims: "Watch it."

"Sorry, dude," mumbles Kaz.

"My name is not dude. It's Therm Scissorpunch," scoffs Therm Scissorpunch.

"Sorry, Mr. Scissorpunch."

"Say my name -- my full name," Therm Scissorpunch growls, raising his clenched scissorfist.

"Sorry, Therm Scissorpunch. I'll watch where I'm going."

"Apology accepted," says Therm Scissorpunch with a nod, as he disappears into the crowd.

Therm Scissorpunch action figures will fly off the shelves.

( starwars.com)

4. Cardinal

Appears in: Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson (novel)

Cardinal is a crimson-red Stormtrooper, not to be confused with the crimson-red TIE fighter pilot named Major Vonreg in the Resistance premiere.

So, two different action figures.

(starwars.com)

5. Grand Admiral Rae Sloane

Appears in: The Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig (novels)

One of the most frequently recurring Star Wars villains yet to appear on screen is Rae Sloane, an Imperial Admiral at the time of Return of the Jediwho went on to consolidate the Empire's remnants and help found the First Order. Sloane could be for Resistance what Thrawn was for Rebels: a complicated villain, equal parts ruthless, ingenious and principled. The movie villains of the First Order -- Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, and General Hux -- have nothing on Sloane. Oh, and Supreme Leader Snoke can go choke on a pretzel.

The implied political rivalry between Sloane and Snoke sets up a vast, uncharted frontier for stories in the Resistance era to explore. Sloane stands for a shockingly progressive vision of the Empire -- and not just because she's a powerful woman of color. She believes in ruling through order rather than fear, in diplomacy over destruction, and in utility instead of theatrics. She works to abolish the Empire's slavery of nonhumans and refuses to build herself a cult of personality. In other words, she must effing hate that Snoke guy.

Numerous stories set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens set Sloane up as the leading candidate for the new Emperor of the First Order, but none of them have explained how Snoke ended up on the throne instead. (Or literally any backstory for Snoke.) Maybe her emails?

( Wookieepedia)

6. Astrid Fenris

Appears in: Solo: A Star Wars Story: The Official Guide

One of Kaz's racing rivals in Resistance is named Freya Fenris. Wouldn't you know, there's another character with the same last name and same blonde hair color who crossed paths with Han Solo decades earlier? According to the official Solo movie guide, a smuggler named Astrid Fenris was among the patrons at the gambling lodge where Lando met Han. The guide even gives Astrid a backstory as a snake oil saleswoman; she's been peddling special bottled mineral water that's actually just regular water.

Her actual appearance in the movie, however, is elusive. Was she left on the cutting room floor? Even though you go through those scenes frame by frame, over and over, scanning every face in the background, you can't find her. You think you see half of her face in one shot, but you compare your screenshots to the book and realize nope, that person has different bangs.

But that tiny bottle of clear liquid Beckett pours into his cup... could it be...?

You know there must be a reason Lucasfilm gave these two characters the same last name so you look again. And again. And then, in the background, behind Han's right shoulder, you see it. The blur.

You squint. There.

Enhance!

There she is. Plain as day, the Corellian stripe on her pants and everything.

So if you see Freya Fenris drinking fancy bottled water in Resistance, remember: Astrid might be hiding in plain sight.

( Wookieepedia)

7. Ello Asty

Appears in: The Force Awakens

You immediately recognize the silent catfishy X-wing pilot who walks past the camera five minutes into the Resistance premiere. "Ello Asty," you whisper in disbelief, as the character's final words in The Force Awakens come back to you: "I'm hit!"

You know logically that this story is set six months earlier than the battle at Starkiller Base, but you witnessed this brave Abednedo's demise, and nothing has prepared you to see him living and breathing again in front of your eyes. Like spotting your late grandfather in a home movie, Asty is both alive and dead in the same moment. "But no damage!" echoes his voice from beyond the grave. "Roger," you quote back to him, tears in your eyes, remembering wistfully that J.J. Abrams named Ello Asty as a tribute to the Beastie Boys' fifth studio album, Hello Nasty.

( starwars.com)

8. C'ai Threnalli

Appears in: The Last Jedi

Then you realize -- what if this isn't Ello Asty at all, but that other Abednedo pilot who survived the battle of Starkiller Base? The one who miraculously lived all the way to the end of The Last Jedi? The one who Lucasfilm created because it was cheaper to reuse Ello Asti's animatronic costume than to create a totally new alien character? What if it's C'ai Threnalli?

At first C'ai just snuck into the background crowd at the end of The Force Awakens, but in The Last Jedi, he insinuates himself into Poe Dameron's inner circle. C'ai battles as Poe's wingman, holds a blaster in the mutiny against Admiral Holdo, boards the Millennium Falcon as one of the few survivors of the Resistance and, finally, gets a big hug from Poe.

That hug belonged to Ello Asty. "I'm hit... I'm hit... I'm hit" -- that horrible moment replays in your mind over and over. If Ello had survived, C'ai never would have existed.

But seriously, is it Ello Asty or C'ai Threnalli?

When our intrepid TV Guide writer dropped this question on the show's three executive producers, they froze. At first they seemed anxious about accidentally spilling Lucasfilm Secrets™ -- but quickly realized that their refusal to answer could arouse suspicions of a deeper conspiracy. What other Lucasfilm Secrets™ about Ello or C'ai or perhaps a third unnamed Abednedo pilot could they be hiding? The executive producers interrupted the interview to ask a lurking Lucasfilm publicist for permission to divulge this information: the scoop of the year.

TV Guide can exclusively confirm it's Ello Asty.

Star Wars Resistance premieres Sunday, Oct. 7 at 10/9 on Disney Channel.