Fans of Clone Wars will be pumped by the news that Rex is back. Where has he been? Cruising around a desert in a tank trying to land the the next big catch with two of his clone buddies. Dee Bradley Baker who plays Rex’s voice has played more characters in the Star Wars franchise than any other actor. Besides being the voice of the clones, he’s also done the voices of Admiral Kassius Konstantine, Jedi Saesee Tiin, Onaconda Farr, Byph, Bossk, Arok the Hutt, Robonino, Admiral Trench, and many many more.
The inspiration for the Rex’s tank vehicle is Dave Filioni’s Grandfather’s big Winnebago that he used to take around Florida to go fishing. He says he wanted it to be a Howl’s Moving Castle walking tank. Lego set anyone? Fans can only dream. Filioni also teased about a different ending that got cut for time, where Sabine paints an ATAT up to look like a wolf. The idea for the scene is based on one of his favorite films, Kelly’s Heros.
Star Wars Rebels Executive Producer Dave Filoni wants Rebels to be an opportunity to tell stories girls can identify with and believes in the importance of developing strong female characters in the Star Wars universe. The secret to creating a show that people can identify with he says, is listening. Filoni calls Hera the new Han Solo and confirms that she is indeed a better sword fighter than Kanan, and says if there are haters they can just, “deal with it”.
Season 2 also promises to delve much deeper in to the back stories of all the characters. As Filoni puts it, “Everybody gets it”. We even will be treated to a whole episode about Hera’s assistant droid Chopper and how she found him and rebuilt him. Did we mention he gets a friend? He doesn’t get ejected out an airlock this season at least. Don’t expect a too much from the little guy though, Filioni says Chopper, “Is pretty much still a jerk at the end”. Hera’s back story gets some important details about her family and background reveled this season too, especially between her and her father who was a Revolutionary during the Clone Wars.
Ahsoka’ training and experince with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda are a key part of being able to successfully introduce Darth Vader to the story as a foe the crew to contend with.
“You can’t just bring Darth Vader into it because he’s going to crush them, like they don’t stand a chance. Ahsoka has a personal connection to Anakin Skywalker that we believe people are interested in. What’s that side of the story? People are interested in what Vader is like before he realizes his son is alive. So, that became important. Plus, she’s a Force Wielder that’s way more progressed and defense ready than Kanan. She has much more training from Anakin Skywalker directly, one of the greatest of all Jedi, from Obi-Wan Kenobi, from Yoda.” – Filioni
Ashley Eckstein talked a bit about how her role as Ahsoka in Rebels is a different tone than the type of person her character was in Clone Wars, that she sometimes had to redo takes because they felt “Too sweet” and that Ahsoka is, “More of the Master now”.
Check out the trailer for Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, out Oct 14th on Disney XD!
