Lieutenant Renz was a human male who was one of the commanders of the garrison that defended the Galactic Empire's shield generator bunker on the moon of Endor. In 4 ABY, the Alliance to Restore the Republic sent a strike team to disable the shield generator so that they could destroy the Death Star II superweapon that the shield protected. The team successfully gained entry to the bunker and captured Renz's superior, Major Hewex, but Renz and a group of stormtroopers then forced them to surrender.
After the rebels were escorted outside, an army of native Ewoks attacked the Imperial forces at the bunker, causing the structure's doors to be sealed close. Renz and Hewex, who were inside the sealed bunker, were later contacted by the rebel Han Solo, who was disguised as an Imperial. Solo fooled the Imperial officers into believing that the rebels had been defeated, so Hewex sent Renz to open the bunker's back door. The rebels then managed to enter the bunker and destroy it, allowing for the destruction of the Death Star.
Renz captured Han Solo and his rebel allies.
Renz was a human male who served as a lieutenant in the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He and his superior, Major Hewex, commanded Tempest Force, a legion of Imperial Army troops garrisoned to defend the shield generator bunker on the Forest Moon of Endor. The bunker provided the shield that protected the Death Star II superweapon while it was being constructed above the moon. As such, all of the Imperial officers assigned to it were seasoned agents, with many leaving important positions to come to Endor.
In 4 ABY, an Alliance strike team landed on Endor to disable the shield generator so that the Alliance Fleet could attack the Death Star. With aid from the moon's native Ewoks, the strike team managed to gain entry to the bunker via a back entrance and was able to surprise Hewex and several of his men, forcing them to surrender. The rebels then began preparing to plant detonite charges to destroy the bunker but were interrupted by Imperial reinforcements arriving as part of a trap set by Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. The first Imperial to confront them, Colonel Dyer, was knocked into the generator by the rebel Han Solo, but Renz then arrived with a squad of stormtroopers and forced the rebels to surrender, rescuing Hewex and his men in the process.
Renz and Hewex were fooled by Han Solo.
The stormtroopers then escorted the captive rebels out of the bunker, but they were attacked by an army of Ewoks. After several officers fled back inside the bunker, its doors were shut and sealed with Renz and Hewex inside, safe from the battle raging above. After some time, the pair received a viewscreen communication from an All Terrain Scout Transport driver informing them that the battle was over and that the victorious Imperials needed reinforcements to chase down rebel survivors.
Renz and Hewex grinned at the good news, and Hewex ordered Renz to open the back door so three squads could be sent to help. However, the message had been a ruse by a disguised Solo, and the three squads leaving the bunker found themselves surrounded by rebels and Ewoks. The rebels then entered the bunker and forced a crestfallen Hewex and his men out before placing their charges and successfully destroying the shield generator, allowing the Alliance Fleet to destroy the Death Star and claim victory.
Renz wore a black Imperial officer's uniform that included a belt, a cap with an officer's disk, gloves, and boots. He used a DL-21 blaster pistol while apprehending Solo and the other rebels.
Renz was portrayed by Barrie Holland in Return of the Jedi.
Renz was portrayed uncredited by Barrie Holland in the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. After portraying an Imperial officer in several scenes with Darth Vader actor David Prowse, including Palpatine's arrival on the Death Star II, Holland was informed by an assistant director that he should change into a black Imperial officer's uniform and then go and speak to director Richard Marquand, who offered Holland the role of Renz as the pair had previously worked together on the film Eye of the Needle.
The interior bunker scenes took a day and a half of shooting and were filmed on Stage 8 at Elstree Studios on March 23 and 24, 1982. Renz's line was originally written as "That is correct, rebel scum!" in response to the rebels' realization that they had walked into a trap, but it was shortened on set. In some takes, Holland tried delivering the line in an American accent rather than an English one. Due to the line, cameraman Alan Hume nicknamed Holland "Rebel Scum" while he was on set.
Harrison Ford slapped Barrie Holland across the face during the first take of their scene together.
During the first take of the scene, Harrison Ford, who portrayed Han Solo, playfully slapped Holland in the face and responded "What did you call me?" after Renz's line calling Solo scum. Holland describes the scene as very hard to do, as it was on a small set and the timing had to be perfect so that Solo turned to face Renz's gun. A timing light was used to alert Holland to when he needed to enter the set, and he tried running in on different beats between one and ten after the light in different takes, eventually finding eight to be the perfect timing.
Due to the limited visibility caused by their costumes, the actors for the stormtroopers who arrived with Holland were dependent on him taking his place correctly so that they could find theirs. After many attempts, Holland and Ford eventually got the take after discussing it over coffee. Although Holland considered his Star Wars role just another job, he believes he was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get the role of Renz and what he considers a great line of dialogue. In his brief appearance, he feels he managed to portray Renz as a forceful officer whose ruthless manner summed up the power of the Empire.
In the current Star Wars canon, Renz's name was first used on a card in the 2014 Topps Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 3D Widevision set of trading cards released by The Topps Company, Inc. in 2014 The name originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first given on a card in the Endor Limited set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, produced by Decipher, Inc. and released in 1999.
A separate card in the 2014 Topps Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 3D Widevision set erroneously describes a single commander saying "Freeze, you rebel scum!," merging Dyer's line of dialogue from the film with Renz's line. This mistake is also repeated in Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!, a 2015 adaptation of Return of the Jedi written by Tom Angleberger, in which Renz is given the merged lines. In "The Battle of Endor and the Fall of the Empire," which was published as part of De Agostini's Star Wars Encyclopedia series on June 29, 2021, the names of Renz and Commander Igar are erroneously swapped in a pair of image captions.