A Q&A with series creator Dave Filoni.
Start the Imperial march the man in black has come back.
1 villain: Darth Vader, himself.
Credit: Disney XD; Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images
Although Vader is not a constant presence in the show, his shadow still looms large.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I want to start by talking about getting James Earl Jones back as Darth Vader.
Tell me about working with him, getting him involved.
What was the first outreach like?
Dave Filoni:It was not going to happen unless we had James doing the voice.
His voice is Vader, right?
What was it like directing Vader for the special?
Honestly, it was like, directing him what am I to do?
It had been 10 years since he did the voice [forRevenge of the Sith.]
He was recording remotely?
Sounds like a dream come true for a Star Wars fan.
Whenever I hear an imitation of Vader, its very stiff, and very stoic.
And this had a more… relaxed quality to it.
How would you describe it?
Its a real challenge to have someone perform a character vs. imitate a character.
OnRebels, were saying things that have never been said by Darth Vader before exactly that way.
James invented the performance, andisDarth Vader, so he is constantly establishing what the rules are.
Vaders in a different place in this series, too.
Vader, in this time period, has no remorse.
Part of it is the ease from which he commands, which makes him very evil.
Its something Jason Isaacs and I talked about for the Inquisitor in Season 1.
You dont need to shout to be an effective villain.
Sometimes a villain is very quiet it makes them more deadly, more intellectual.
Hes not threatened either.
With our Vader, the rebels on our show are just specks.
They are a troublesome thing that hes been brought in to deal with.
Which is a connection to that part of him that wasnt evil.
The good person that Anakin Skywalker was is known to Ahsoka Tano.
And as she lives on, she carries that with her.
So its an interesting thing, and definitely something hed want to crush.
It just goes to show you his lack of care for life at that point.
Thats shows the breadth of his calculation, too.
Allow the Millennium Falcon to escape; they will lead us to the rebel base.
And Tarkin warns him, I hope youre right about this.
But we thought, well, this is an Anakin strategy.
NEXT PAGE: HowRebelsmay eventually connect to theStar Warsmovies.
[pagebreak]
WithRebels, youre bridgingRevenge of the SithandA New Hope.
Youve got Ahsoka fromThe Clone Warsand Darth Vader now meeting, or at least aware of each other again.
Since all of this is canon, whats it like connecting parts of the larger Star Wars narrative?
So in this world, at least, I think I have more room.
And I have more new characters.
Youre showing the two sides arent at all evenly matched at least at the start.
They dont have the hardware, the machines, the equipment to do that.
If they become a big force, theyre easily targeted by the Empire.
They turn their smallness into a strength in a way.
They arent well equipped to take out pockets of resistance that blend into the population.
But even inEmpire, theyre on the run.
The rebels are a mobile group.
I mean, how do you hold a planet within an Empire?
Theyd probably send a bunch of Star Destroyers there to destroy you.
Yeah, or just destroy the planet.
[Laughs] Yeah, destroy the whole planet!
Well that was the Death Stars plan, right?
These people are complaining…?
GET RID OF THE WHOLE PLANET!
Whats it like writing these stories now with the new films coming out?
Is there a lot of collaboration and cooperation?
How would you describe her role?
Its a lot of fun!
She deeply cares about these stories and these characters, and the tradition at Lucasfilm.
And so for me, its great to have her there.
I sit down and talkStar Warswith her all the time.
As a fan, just geeking out, or strictly to coordinate with the movies and books?
And shes like, Thats cool, do it, or Oh, were covering that somewhere else.
Then Rian Johnson is preppingEpisode VIII.So what are the links between your show and their films?
Its about awareness, is what Ive been telling people.
So maybe we do this and keep our thing different.
Its as much about that as it is saying, Wouldnt it be neat if so-and-so appeared in that.
So its more about staying out of each others way than crossing over?
The story was a story that would fit a guy like him.
Its as much about generation bridging as it is character development, and… Has there ever been an incident where shes like, Emergency meeting!
Hold on, we missed a trick and now the storylines are clashing!
I mean, as much as every meeting is an emergency meeting onStar Wars, at this point.
Are you involved with the films in any way?
Are you laying any groundwork for these other movies inRebels?
Everythings unique and sits in its own space.
But crossovers and stuff like that, it doesnt.
No, not really.
See what I mean?
Because you want everything to be special in the moment that it happens.
I would never want to rob them… Dont steal the coolness.
So down the road, there may be some more?
And we want everything to be special in its own right.
I mean, thats the hope, right?
If anything, were at the evergreen moment when theres as much space as possible.
Literally, and in the sense of the timeline.
In the future, they may not be able to avoid intersecting.
