Star Wars: Episode IX will see the return of the fan-favorite rollerball droid BB-8 who will likely get a new pal in the upcoming movie. BB-8 has previously appeared in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

A report coming from Making Star Wars, citing details obtained from Disney’s marketing summit and Pinewood Studio sources, claims BB-8 will get a new pal in Star Wars: Episode IX. As per the report, the new droid character is described as sort of a sidekick to BB-8 on Reddit. The little robotic creature had sort of a cone-shaped head, same like that of a megaphone. The post also claimed that the droid had been named Dio, which could also mean its name was D-O.

According to folks at Pinewood Studios, the little droid was very attached to BB-8 and treated the rollerball droid as a parent.

“When the guys at Pinewood spoke about the little droid they said it was sort of an ugly duckling idea in that the droid treated BB-8 as a parent and was very attached to him. It sounded like he interfaced with BB-8 and someone thought the mechanism created for lightsaber storage in The Force Awakens that was never used in that film was redesigned to actually house D.O./Dio according to content seen by another source,” the report read.

Notably, the popular R2-D2 droid is also expected to reappear in Star Wars: Episode IX.

In related news, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is rumored to show up in the upcoming Star Wars movie as a Stormtrooper, reported The Sun UK. The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy films have had a few celebrity cameos in each installment. Daniel Craig did a cameo as a Stormtrooper in The Force Awakens, while Prince William and Harry played similar roles in The Last Jedi. It’s better to take the information with a pinch of salt as The Sun doesn’t credit any known source about the cameo.

Star Wars: Episode IX is set for release on December 20, 2019. The film’s first trailer is expected to be out later this month.

Via: Making Star Wars