GA-97 was a seemingly ordinary GA-series service droid functioning within the walls of Maz Kanata's castle on the planet Takodana. Despite its appearance, it was secretly allied with the Resistance. During the year 34 ABY, the smuggler Han Solo arrived with the scavenger Rey, the ex-stormtrooper Finn, and the astromech droid BB-8. Immediately recognizing BB-8 as a missing droid crucial to the Resistance, GA-97 used their intelligence network to relay the astromech's location. Acting on this information, the Resistance prepared to dispatch forces to Takodana. However, before their arrival, the First Order launched an attack that destroyed the castle.
During the Resistance's conflict against the First Order, GA-97, a GA-series service droid, secretly supported the Resistance and was connected to their intelligence network. While stationed at Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana, the droid witnessed the arrival of Han Solo, a smuggler, leading three individuals fleeing the First Order. Kanata, an old acquaintance of Solo, greeted him upon his entrance, drawing the attention of everyone in the castle, including GA-97 and those at the fighting droid table nearby. After the initial commotion subsided, GA-97 shifted his focus to the Dengue sisters, a trio of Culisettos engaged in gambling at a nearby table.
The sisters' game was disrupted when Unkar Plutt's severed arm, belonging to the junk dealer, landed on their table, having been thrown by the Wookiee Chewbacca after he ripped it off while defending the scavenger Rey, one of Solo's companions. The sisters casually discarded the arm and resumed their gambling, but GA-97's attention was now drawn to Rey and her companion, the astromech droid BB-8. Upon recognizing the astromech as a crucial missing droid, GA-97 initiated an internal sequence that sent a compressed signal, routed, coded, decoded, encrypted, and then transmitted into deep space. The signal was then received by C-3PO, a protocol droid at the Resistance base on D'Qar. Overjoyed, C-3PO informed General Leia Organa that BB-8 was on Takodana, prompting her to depart for Takodana to retrieve the droid.
Before the Resistance could arrive, the inhabitants of Kanata's castle were drawn outside by the sound of the First Order's Starkiller Base firing on the Hosnian system. In the castle's courtyard, they witnessed the destruction of the entire star system, including the Galactic Senate of the New Republic. Almost immediately after this horrific event, the First Order attacked the castle and quickly destroyed it. The survivors were then spared when the Resistance arrived and repelled the First Order's forces, driving them offworld.
GA-97 debuted in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, which premiered in 2015. The voice of the droid was provided by David Acord, who also voiced several other minor characters in the movie, including Sidon Ithano, Teedo, and FN-2199. The droid was not named in the film itself but was identified in Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, a reference book by Pablo Hidalgo released concurrently with the film. The GA-97 model was a puppet capable of locomotion, operated by a team of three puppeteers, with a fourth controlling its electronic functions.