How A Major Star Wars Blooper Became Canon Thanks to Fans

The Star Wars franchise may run like a well-oiled machine now, but the making of the original 1977 film was very chaotic. George Lucas and his crew were making a lot of stuff up as they went along, with some going so far as to claim the whole movie was constructed in the editing room. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that a lot of mistakes made it into the final movie, ranging from transparent lightsabers to a Stormtrooper smashing his head on a door. One blunder, in particular, was so egregious that Lucasfilm had someone write a story just to explain it. Enter Fake Wedge.

For those not familiar, Wedge Antilles is a Rebel pilot who appears in all three of the original trilogy films. The Fake Wedge blooper comes from the character’s introduction in Star Wars: A New Hope, where he was played by two different actors … or should we say three? The story breaks down like this: actor Colin Higgins was cast as Wedge Antilles but only ended up shooting for one day after repeatedly flubbing his lines. Denis Lawson — uncle of future prequel star Ewan McGregor — was brought in to replace him and ended up playing the role in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as well.

Both actors were then dubbed over by a third actor, David Ankrum because George Lucas wanted all of the X-Wing pilots to have American accents. The problem is the production was stretched so thin, and George Lucas was in such poor health, that somehow both Wedges ended up in the final edit of A New Hope. Higgins appears in the scene where the Rebel pilots are being briefed on the thermal exhaust port that serves as the Death Star’s only weak spot. He can be heard loudly complaining that hitting the two-meter exhaust port is an “impossible” shot “even for a computer.” Coincidentally, this is also the scene where Luke Skywalker brags about hot-rodding around Tatooine in his speeder, shooting at poor, defenseless creatures roughly the same size.

Lawson, meanwhile, shows up later during the actual trench run and along with Luke, is the only member of Red Squadron to survive the battle. Fans who noticed the gaff dubbed Higgins “Fake Wedge,” and the name stuck.

For decades, the fact that there were two Wedges in A New Hope was a fun factoid that hardcore Star Wars nerds could break out at parties to prove their deep knowledge of franchise lore. But Star Wars being Star Wars, eventually, someone had to come up with a canon explanation for the two Wedges, and after 40 years of having no name other than Fake Wedge, Higgins’ character was given the name Col Takbright.

The 2017 anthology From a Certain Point of View contains a story written by Jason Fry titled “Duty Roster” told from Fake Wedge — we mean Col Takbright’s — point of view. The story not only gave Takbright his own identity as a hot-head pilot who misses out on the Death Star attack but also canonized the name “Fake Wedge.”

In a bit of meta-humor, the story reveals that Takbright is often mistaken for Wedge Antilles by his fellow pilots, earning him the nickname “Fake Wedge.” Takbright initially hates his nickname until the real Wedge comes back from helping to blow up the Death Star, making him proud to be mistaken for a hero. So far, Takbright has yet to make any further appearances in the Star Wars universe outside of his one scene in A New Hope and the short story.

Meanwhile, the real Wedge Antilles is still active and even had a cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Rise was also the only time in the entire Skywalker Saga that Denis Lawson and his nephew Ewan McGregor appear in the same Star Wars film. For anyone curious, Wedge shows up with Chewbacca on the Millenium Falcon during the last battle, while Ewan makes a voice-only cameo as Obi-Wan Kenobi during Rey’s showdown with Palpatine.

While Fake Wedge is far from the weirdest Star Wars thing to be canonized — George Lucas named Obi-Wan’s home planet “Stewjon” during an interview with Jon Stewart — it’s still a really fun story that highlights Lucasfilm’s willingness to get silly with the franchise occasionally.

If you liked reading about Fake Wedge, you should check out our story on Bigger Luke, which is an even crazier piece of Star Wars lore!