A San Diego Comic-Con panel Thursday revealed a very cool piece of Star Wars trivia we did not expect.
Speaking to Collider, director Colin Trevorrow revealed a brand new Star Wars ship he designed with his nine-year-old son during the development of Star Wars Episode IX. The ship is called the TIE Marauder and, as you’ll see above and below, it features not just one cockpit like a standard TIE Fighter, or even two similar cylinders like a TIE Bomber. Instead, it appears to have three cockpits. Do three people fly this thing? Are there two gunners and one pilot? We don’t know. But here’s another screenshot from the panel.
Trevorrow explained that this model is the only one that exists of the ship and it was only recently painted. So, no, the TIE Marauder is not canon. Another ship from Trevorrow’s film is canon, though. It’s the TIE Echelon, which is docked at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Though it had previously been reported, Trevorrow did confirm that the design was meant for his version of Episode IX.
How exactly either of those ships fit into Trevorrow’s very different version of the sequel trilogy finale is anyone’s guess. But, if you’d like to read more about what it possibly could have been, you can do so at this link.
The full panel—which features not just Trevorrow but Alita: Battle Angel and Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez, and Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski—is below. (If you want to skip ahead to the Star Wars stuff, it comes about 45 minutes in.)
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