Ewoks Join Leia, Han and Chewbacca in Official Return of the Jedi Clip
An official clip revisits the alliance at Endor—and how the Ewoks’ knowledge of their home helped the Rebels overcome the Empire’s machines.
The short answer: An official clip revisits the alliance at Endor—and how the Ewoks’ knowledge of their home helped the Rebels overcome the Empire’s machines.
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Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca aren’t fighting alone at Endor. The Ewoks join them against the Empire in an official Star Wars: Return of the Jedi clip, bringing the forest moon’s own inhabitants into the fight. Their intervention matters far beyond the trees: the Rebels’ mission on the ground helps make victory in space possible.
The Star Wars YouTube channel published “Ewoks Save the Rebels” on October 22, 2026. The clip revisits an alliance that brings together the Rebels and fighters with their own reasons to resist the Empire.
Why the Ewoks matter
The alliance begins with a personal connection. Wicket, played by Warwick Davis, befriends Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia after intervening when Imperial scout troopers try to capture her. That friendship helps bring his tribe into the Rebel cause, with Leia’s group and the warriors of Bright Tree Village planning their attack together.
Wicket already had ideas for defeating Imperial machines before meeting the Rebels. The Ewoks’ advantage is practical: knowledge of the forest, survival skills and the ability to build devices such as gliders and catapults. Against technologically superior stormtroopers and scout walkers, their tactics turn familiarity with their home into a weapon.
The stakes are larger than a single skirmish. The Empire has cut down trees and built a bunker and a massive shield generator on the moon. With the Ewoks’ help in the ground battle, the Rebels destroy the generator, allowing their allies in space to destroy the Death Star. The local resistance and the wider Rebel offensive become parts of the same victory.
Giving the Ewoks a voice
The Ewoks’ identity also took shape in the sound department. In StarWars.com’s “Jedi at 40” interview, re-recording mixer Randy Thom recalled that the film’s sound team began work unusually early. Sound designer Ben Burtt said his very first day on Jedi included a conversation with George Lucas about the Ewoks’ language, personalities and sound.
The Ewok language was, essentially, a mixing bowl of different things. Ben Burtt, StarWars.com’s “Jedi at 40” interview
Burtt explained that starting with an existing language meant drawing on its history and range, rather than relying only on his experience speaking English to invent sounds. Alongside their tools and tactics, the Ewoks had speech developed to give the forest moon’s inhabitants a character of their own.