Fans hoping to get more information on the characters featured on the big screen in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" will get their wish when Disney XD's "Star Wars Rebels" animated series returns in January. It was revealed after the release of the feature film that one of the movie's characters, Saw Gerrera, would appear in an upcoming episode of the "Star Wars" series.

RELATED: Forest Whitaker to Play Saw Gerrera on Star Wars Rebels

Saw's inclusion makes sense on two fronts: he was originally an animated character, having appeared in episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," and "Rebels" and "Rogue One" both take place in the time immediately before "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope." Saw's appearance in "Rebels," which takes place a few years before Forest Whitaker's take on the character in "Rogue One," will bridge the gap between "Clone Wars" and the feature film -- and Forest Whitaker himself will voice the animated version of his character.

"Star Wars Rebels" has released a new featurette focusing on Saw's upcoming inclusion on the show, including new footage from the series as well as a behind-the-scenes look at his involvement.

"Saw Gerrera is maybe the original Rebel," said "Rebels" executive producer Dave Filoni in the featurette Filoni also worked on the character during his appearances in season five of "The Clone Wars." "He is the first one in a long line of people that got trained by the Jedi to fight for themselves to save their planets during the Clone Wars. He is the beginning of what would eventually become the Rebel Alliance."

"We wanted to create a connection between 'Rebels' and 'Rogue One' that was on the heels of the movie coming out," said Rayne Roberts, Creative Executive of the Lucasfilm story group. "And it just ended up making a lot of sense that Saw would be our connective tissue."

Voiced by Andrew Kishino, Saw Gerrera debuted in the 2012 “Clone Wars” episode “A War on Two Fronts,” where he was a leader of the Onderon rebels in the fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. His arc played out over the subsequent three Season Five episodes.

"Star Wars Rebels" returns to Disney XD with all-new episodes on January 7, 2017. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is in theaters now. Directed by Gareth Edwards, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” also Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed and Jiang Wen. “Star Wars Rebels” airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.