In recent years, shows like The Mandalorian have allowed animated characters from Star Wars canon to make the jump to live-action. Contrary to popular belief, however, such transitions aren't necessarily a priority for executive producer/writer/director Dave Filoni.
During a recent interview with TheWrap, Filoni was asked how often he thinks about finding a way to bring his animated Star Wars characters to live-action. "Very rarely," he replied. "I know people think it's the other way around, which is fascinating to me, but I think there's two ways to look at that, which is that, yes, they were animated characters, but to me they're just characters. And now I'm over here working in live-action. I'm comfortable with those characters, I know them, I like them and I like to see them around."
That said, Filoni acknowledges that "it changes when they're suddenly in a different medium. [Katee Sackhoff's] talked about it a little bit, and the difference between performing Bo-Katan as a voice actor versus performing her physically and being present on set as her -- it's a different vibe. I'm always cautious. And Jon [Favreau] and I talk about who will we bring in? I try to do it when it makes the most sense." As an example, Filoni pointed towards Cad Bane's live-action debut in The Book of Boba Fett.
"When we needed a gunslinger to go up against some of our characters in Book of Boba Fett, Cad Bane's name came up," he recalled. "I think looking at that, the first thing I think is, 'Well, how do we do that and make it believable?' Like the character, he's so lean and gaunt in The Clone Wars. And if we don't do that, is it all CG? How are we going to portray that? If we don't think we can do that effectively, then we shouldn't do it." Still, Filoni has "been very happy with the ones that have gone over. There may or may not be more in Ahsoka, if that's your thing."
Which Animated Star Wars Characters Have Transitioned to Live-Action?
Prior to working on live-action Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Filoni directed the 2008 animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He subsequently served as creative director of the animated series of the same name. Later, Filoni served as creator of the follow-up animated series Star Wars Rebels. The second season of The Mandalorian alone marked the live-action debut of not only Ahsoka Tano, but also Bo-Katan Kryze, both of whom were introduced in The Clone Wars (the film, in Ahsoka's case) before appearing in Rebels. In The Mandalorian and its spinoffs, the aforementioned Katee Sackhoff reprises her role as Bo-Katan, while Rosario Dawson takes over the role of Ahsoka from original voice actor Ashley Eckstein.
Then, as previously mentioned, Clone Wars character Cad Bane made his live-action debut in the limited series The Book of Boba Fett, a spinoff of The Mandalorian. Speaking of spinoffs, Filoni's next major project is Ahsoka, a new series focusing on Dawson's version of the eponymous character. Ahsoka is confirmed to feature the live-action debut of Rebels' Sabine Wren, with Natasha Liu Bordizzo taking over the role from Tiya Sircar. It's also believed that the series will see live-action appearances by fellow Rebels characters Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Outside the so-called Mando-Verse, the Grand Inquisitor and the Fifth Brother, also of Rebels fame, made their own live-action debuts in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Interestingly, though, the phenomenon of Filoni's animated Star Wars characters transitioning to live-action actually pre-dates The Mandalorian -- and Disney+, for that matter. The honor of being the first character to make the jump belongs to Saw Gerrera, who was voiced by Andrew Kishino in The Clone Wars before being played by Forest Whitaker in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Rogue One also featured a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by the droid Chopper, who debuted in Rebels.
New episodes of The Mandalorian Season 3 drop Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: TheWrap