Star Wars 9: Greg Grunberg Returning as Snap Wexley

With production under way on Star Wars 9, it's been revealed that director J.J. Abrams' longtime friend Greg Grunberg will return as his Star Wars: The Force Awakens character, Temmin "Snap" Wexley. The news isn't terribly surprising, since Grunberg has appeared in almost all of Abrams' projects. When it was announced that Abrams was returning to direct Star Wars 9, following the departure of Colin Trevorrow, most assumed Grunberg's return was imminent. Grunberg has been friends with Abrams since kindergarten, and much like how Ron Howard casts his brother Clint Howard in all of his movies, Grunberg's casting has become almost automatically assumed for every Abrams project.

Grunberg first brought Snap Wexley to life on the big screen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the character first debuted in Chuck Wendig's novel Aftermath, which is set between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. In the first book, Snap is the teenage son of protagonist Terra Wexley. Growing up around the Resistance, he would later be mentored by Wedge Antilles, who taught him how to fly. Wexley appeared in all three of the Aftermath novels, along with Bloodline, and several issues of the Marvel comic Poe Dameron, although he only had a minor role in The Force Awakens. He didn't resurface in 2017's The Last Jedi, but now Snap will be back in Star Wars 9.

Grunberg's return was reported by Discussing Film, who stated that they confirmed with the actor's representatives that he's coming back for Star Wars 9. Grunberg himself also dropped a pretty big hint last month about Snap Wexley's return, stating he couldn't reveal anything officially yet, but there was a reason he was growing a beard out again. The actor hasn't responded to this new report, but he's an active Twitter user, and it's possible he could make an "official" announcement about his casting on social media soon.

Update, September 13: Deadline further confirms Greg Grunberg is back for Star Wars: Episode IX.

Even though production began nearly a month ago, there's been some exciting new casting additions announced over the past few days. Earlier this week, Dominic Monaghan joined Star Wars 9 in an unspecified role, reuniting with Lost boss Abrams, and just hours ago, it was revealed that Matt Smith (Doctor Who) has also joined the cast as another unspecified character. They will be joined by the new heroic trio of Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), with Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker expected to return in some capacity as well, most likely as a "Force Ghost."

While it seems unlikely that Grunberg's Snap Wexley will have a major role in Star Wars 9, his casting continues a time-honored tradition. Grunberg first teamed up with his old friend Abrams via significant roles in Felicity and Alias, before lending his voice to Oceanic Flight 815 pilot Seth Norris in the Lost pilot episode, and landing a minor role in Abrams' directing debut, Mission: Impossible III. He also voiced the stepfather of a young James Tiberius Kirk (Jimmy Bennett) in Star Trek. Grunberg has done just fine on his own (i.e. Heroes), but it's still nice to see this tradition of Grunberg and Abrams reuniting in project after project being kept alive.