Del Goren was a human male member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic who served as a communications and sensors expert in Alliance High Command. In 0 BBY, he was in the war room of the rebel headquarters on the moon Yavin 4 during the Battle of Yavin, in which the rebels attacked the Galactic Empire's Death Star superweapon.
Goren watched the battle on a display system and alerted the rebel starfighters when the war room detected TIE/ln space superiority starfighters preparing to attack them. Ultimately, the rebels successfully destroyed the Death Star.
Del Goren was in the Yavin 4 war room during the Battle of Yavin.
Del Goren was a human male communications and sensor expert who served as a control officer for the High Command of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. Part of the Massassi Group based in the Alliance's Great Temple headquarters on the moon Yavin 4, Goren was present at the temple during the preparations for the Alliance's attack on the Imperial Death Star superweapon in 0 BBY.
As the thirty rebel starfighters taking part in the attack launched, Goren rushed into the base's war room with Princess Leia Organa and the protocol droid C-3PO. As the trio began watching the battle on a massive display system, an announcement was made that the Death Star would be within range to fire on the Yavin base in fifteen minutes.
With less than seven minutes left until the Death Star was within range, Goren moved over to some of the war room's display screens and announced to the starfighter squad leaders that the base had picked up the signals of Imperial TIE/ln space superiority starfighters preparing to attack them. Red Leader Garven Dreis then called out the TIEs at point four to the rebel Red Squadron, with Goren repeating the information over comms afterward and asking for an update, although Red Five pilot Luke Skywalker was only vaguely aware of the control officer's voice.
Del Goren was confused when Luke Skywalker switched off his targeting computer.
After the rebel and Imperial forces engaged, Goren was again at the display system when members of the rebel Gold Squadron began their attack run on the Death Star. He moved away from the display as the pilots tried to estimate the number of enemy guns they would encounter, only five minutes before the Death Star would be in range to fire.
Both that attack run and the next failed, and with only thirty seconds before the Death Star was within range, Goren and Organa approached the display together again as the rebel pilot Biggs Darklighter perished during a final attack run. Skywalker, the only remaining pilot on the run, switched off his targeting computer, causing Goren to turn away from the display system and look at the screens in confusion. Using the Force instead of the computer, Skywalker then successfully completed the attack run and destroyed the Death Star just as it began its firing sequence. The rebels completely evacuated their forces from Yavin 4 soon after the battle.
Burnell Tucker played three rebel officer roles across two Star Wars films: Del Goren (left), Wyron Serper (center), and Romas Navander (right).
Del Goren first appeared in the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The character was identified only as "control officer" in the script and was portrayed by Burnell Tucker, who went on to play two more rebel officers in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back; Wyron Serper and Romas Navander. Goren's scenes were filmed on H Stage at Shepperton Studios between May 13 and May 18, 1976.
In Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel, a 2016 comic-book adaptation of the film written by Alessandro Ferrari, Goren's line of dialogue is shortened. The 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Rebel Files, written by Daniel Wallace, includes a partial transcript from the Great Temple war room in which a control officer announces the arrival of the Death Star in the Yavin system prior to the Battle of Yavin. It is unclear if this control officer is intended to be Goren or if multiple characters held that role during that time.
In the current Star Wars canon, Goren's name was used in the mobile card game Star Wars: Force Collection, which initially launched in 2013. Although the launch of Force Collection predates the Star Wars canon reset of 2014, Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee confirmed that the game was kept updated to fit with canon. In the Star Wars Legends continuity, Goren appeared prior to the release of the film in its novelization, which was written by Alan Dean Foster and released on November 12, 1976. The character's name also originated in Legends, where it was first used on a card in the 1996 "A New Hope Limited" set made for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game produced by Decipher, Inc.