Freddie Prinze Jr and Dave Filoni talk about Star Wars Rebels

It’s the moment Star Wars fans have been waiting for since news of Clone Wars ending was released. Disney is giving us a peek back into the world of Star Wars with Star Wars Rebels, a new Series on Disney XD. Star Wars Rebels, set five years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, tells the story of the Rebellion’s beginnings while the Empire spreads tyranny through the galaxy. After a sneak peek of the first two episodes I was able to sit down with Dave Filoni (Executive Producer) and Freddie Prinze Jr (voice of Kanan). 

Q: Star Wars is such a legacy, a huge franchise.  How did it feel to be a part of that?

FP: I didn’t know it was Star Wars at first. It was titled ‘Wolf Pack’. But I went in and I saw some character breakdowns on the wall at Disney and I looked at them and I’m thinking, these guys are either ripping off Star Wars real bad or this is a Star Wars thing.

So I asked them, I said is this bleeping Star Wars? Then he kind of sits back and nods his head all cool and I was like all right, give me a second. I’ve got to turn around and compose myself and then get prepared.

Q: What made you want to do this?

DF: Well you know, we were kind of wrapping up the series Clone Wars. With the big Disney purchase it was time for a change and fans felt very strongly about the show.  We wanted to come up with something new that represented this kind of new era of Star Wars and working with the Lucas Films Story team, we all quickly came up with the idea of Star Wars Rebels and the Story Team introduced the idea to make an A-Team like scenario. It just makes sense.

You know, it was something that was very special to us as kids growing up, when we could see that logo at the beginning of a story, we would go this is gonna be different, you know, this is gonna give you the special feeling.  I can’t really put it into words.  It was hopeful, it was exciting.  You saw things you’d never seen before on screen and so we’re all about trying to continue that legacy now. 

Q: Share your thoughts about the role.

I sort of had to figure out who this Rebel Jedi is. Cause he’s not the normal Jedi. He’s not together. He doesn’t have it all figured out. He has maybe 3 answers. Forget all the answers and then two of them, he’s guessing on. You’ll literally see him sort of BS Ezra on some of these things that Master Yoda would be like, you know, “there is no try, there’s only do”.  Where Kanan will be like, “give me your best shot”.  He makes mistakes because he was young and he didn’t get to complete his training in the way that an Anakin or the way that Luke could. 

He’s not the Master that Ezra, that a kid sees. You know, growing up without a Father like Ezra, you put certain men in your life on a pedestal.  And they become something to you. They become something special and spiritual and powerful. They’re gonna have mistakes, they’re gonna get sick, they’re gonna cheat on their wives, they’re gonna do whatever it is they do that’s gonna destroy that image you have and make you angry at them, even though you projected that on them. They get to have that type of a relationship and you can really see it. You can see Kanan kind of resist, and you can see him get sucked in because the way Taylor plays Ezra, he may be a smart aleck but he knows how to  show you vulnerability and that’s what kind of gets me.

Star Wars Rebels  premieres TONIGHT with  Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT on Disney Channel – perfect for a family movie night!  The half-hour series will premiere on Disney XD on MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT. 

Thank you Disney for covering my travel expenses including this private tour, all opinions are my own. Photo Credits to Disney.