STAR WARS BRINGS BACK ORIGINAL TRILOGY LEGEND FOR NEW DISNEY+ SERIES

January 4, 2023
Posted by Alana Steward

Many recurring favorites from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are represented in the voice cast of the animated series Tales of the Jedi.

Palpatine appeared once more. Again. Okay, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially for a Prequel Trilogy-set animated series like Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. The Disney+ series, which was created by Dave Filoni and Charles Murray, depicts the tale of teenage Jedi Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku before the latter turned to the dark side and deserted the Jedi. Ahsoka and Dooku run into numerous well-known characters along the road, including Senator-turned-Chancellor-turned-Emperor Sheev Palpatine, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As one may anticipate, the series has several fan favorites actors reprising their iconic roles. Despite Rosario Dawson’s unique touch on the live-action Ahsoka, first seen in The Mandalorian, Ashley Eckstein will once more provide the character’s voice for the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its accompanying series. While Corey Burton took over for the television series and will reprise that role for Tales of the Jedi, Christopher Lee played Dooku in the films, including The Clone Wars. James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa, and TC Carson as Mace Windu are among of the other returning actors.

Liam Neeson stunned fans with a cameo at the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi, even though it appeared as though he had put Star Wars Pillow far behind him following his character Qui-Gon Jinn’s death in The Phantom Menace. He will reprise his role as Qui-Gon in Tales of the Jedi, although he is not the only voice actor for the adored Jedi. In his debut animated role, Micheál Richardson, son of actor Liam Neeson, will play young Qui-Gon Jinn.

The biggest news, though, may be the return of a Hollywood actor to Star Wars. Emperor Palpatine’s hood and gravelly voice will once more be sported by Ian McDiarmid. The Scottish actor, who replaced Marjorie Eaton and Clive Revill, who portrayed the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back, first played Anakin Skywalker’s corruptor in Return of the Jedi, then made a comeback in the Prequel Trilogy to play a less overtly malevolent younger version of the character. Since then, McDiarmid has taken on the role of Palpatine once more, most notably in Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Rise of Skywalker. However, other actors, such as Tim Curry and Ian Abercrombie, have provided the voice acting for the character’s animated appearances almost as frequently.

Tales of the Jedi solidifies its place in the Star Wars canon with this combination of actors from the animated series and movie franchise. The title of the program is taken from a 1990s-era Dark Horse Comics comic book series. Dark Horse Comics was the Star Wars publisher until Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. The Dark Horse comics are now regarded as “Legends” within the main timeline, like all Expanded Universe content. The title, however, might be a reference to other pre-Disney components that have been abandoned or seem to have been forgotten.

If Poe Dameron would just remark, “Somehow, Dash Rendar returned,” that would be great.

Disney+ will launch Tales of the Jedi on October 26.