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UPDATE: 2023/07/24 13:23 EST BY LARA JACKSON

Star Wars Outlaws confirms Jaylen is not Kyle Katarn.

Speaking to Screen Rant in an SDCC exclusive interview, Ubisoft developers confirmed Jaylen is an all-new character created for Star Wars Outlaws. Original story as follows.

Star Wars Outlaws may be bringing back a long-lost game character. A new cinematic trailer revealed Massive Entertainment's open-world Star Wars and offered players an insight into its main characters and story, and fans believe they have seen a character from a 90s series of Star Wars games.

Star Wars Outlaws' story follows a roguish scoundrel Kay Vess as she embarks on a daring heist to earn her freedom. As is evident by the appearance of Han Solo frozen in Carbonite, the story takes place sometime between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and may feature cameos from many prominent figures from that era of Star Wars, particularly those involved in the Outer Rim's criminal underworld.

Related: "Risk It All": First Open-World Star Wars Game Announced With Stunning Trailer

Star Wars: Dark Forces' Kyle Katarn May Be Returning In Star Wars Outlaws

As pointed out by Talking Bay 94 on Twitter, one of Kay Vess' allies may be Kyle Katarn, as the character sitting in the cockpit of her ship who offers her "a way out" and seemingly instigates the whole heist plan, bares a striking resemblance to him. Kay Vess does call him by a different name, Jaylen, although it's possible he may be using an alias or that Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft may be misleading fans with a fake name to make his identity a surprise when players play the main game.

Katarn was the protagonist of the Star Wars: Dark Forces and Star Wars: Jedi Knight games of the 90s, which took place in parallel to the original trilogy's movies. Katarn was a former Imperial officer who became disillusioned with the Empire and began to take on mercenary work for the Rebels after discovering that his father was tortured and killed by the Empire. Over the course of these games, his role evolved from Rebel mercenary into a Jedi Knight.

Could Star Wars Outlaws Make Kyle Katarn Canon Again?

Kyle Katarn had many tie-ins to Star Wars' original trilogy, with a particularly notable one being his retrieval of the plans for the Death Star that ultimately led to its destruction in A New Hope. Such actions were made non-canon alongside the Star Wars extended universe upon Disney's acquisition of the franchise in 2012, as the studio went on to tell a new story surrounding the Death Star plans in Rogue One, and as such, Katarn seemed to be removed from the Star Wars mythos entirely.

Since Disney took control of the franchise, the recent Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel Jedi: Survivor, which took place between the prequel and original trilogies, have been part of the new Star Wars canon. Therefore, it's highly likely that Star Wars Outlaws will also be canon, and while an appearance from Kyle Katarn wouldn't instantly reinstate his past actions, it would at least bring his character back into the fold with an interesting new story.

Kyle Katarn's work as a mercenary in this time period would make his character a perfect fit for the kind of story Star Wars Outlaws is trying to tell. Kay Vess is allied with neither the Jedi, Rebels, nor the Empire, and seems more involved with the criminal underground of the universe's Outer Rim, meaning that if Katarn is a mercenary at this time, he could easily be integrated into this world and involved in some of her actions and the factions she has to deal with prior to the game's main heist adventure. While the reveal trailer gave a brief look at Star Wars Outlaws' story, fans can look forward to more details very soon as the title has been confirmed as part of the Ubisoft Forward event on June 12.

Sources: Talking Bay 94/Twitter, Star Wars/YouTube