How will this look or feel different from Clone Wars?
It will look quite different. The intention of what Ive seen so afar, and were pretty far down the line, the intention is for it to feel quite different from Clone Wars. The place we went back to as to a visual template was Ralph McQuarrie, who was one of the original concept artists for the original Star Wars films. His art is softer, a little more figurative, more of a feel of being drawn, less computer generated. The first few movies had a bit of a hand-made quality. We wanted the show to have that. Theres also in the archives where [creator George] Lucas keeps all the original art and props, theres tons of art thats McQuarries musing on the Star Wars universe that was never used in the films. Theres places where weve quite literally taken world-creation or vehicles or creatures from his original art that was never used in the films and made that part of show.
Thats fantastic. What about story-telling differences? How dark can you go on Disney XD?
We havent talked in those terms. But the world were creating is an Imperial world. Youre seeing the impact of the Empire, of stormtroopers around the galaxy, abusing and oppressing people. Thematically and politically, it goes to some dark places. But for the tone of the show we took our cues from the original movies, which had fun and adventure and swashbuckling with emotion and grounded human characters. We took all our cues from the original films. Obviously there are slight tonal differences between New Hope, Empire and Jedi. But I think the closest intended voice of the show is A New Hope. So there are places where we get into darker backstories, there are places we see how cruel and malevolent the Empire can be, but for the most part its a fun and character-driven story. Again taking our cues from the original films, its less maybe political than the prequels and more personal. It starts with a few character introductions that will precede the show. I wrote the first two episodes, theyre like a one-hour story across two episodes where we introduce the main characters in the show.
Youve created a new villain, the Inquisitor, what makes him special?
That was probably the most daunting part of this process. George obviously created the best villain of our time. So we spent a lot of time brainstorming and working with the artists to come up with the Inquisitor. Youve seen that image of him. We wanted somebody terrifying, a nightmare character for a kid but not somebody too foreign, too creature-ly. We didnt want him to have a helmet for obvious reasons the comparison [to Darth Vader]. We talked about a character who was cold and calculating and could tap into peoples emotional weaknesses as much as their physical weaknesses, and had a specific relationship to Jedi and the ways of the force. He would be somebody that the remaining Jedi would be especially scared of.
Will you include characters from the expanded universes, like Admiral Thrawn, or just the films and your own creations?
We have characters from all the different parts of the universe. One of the awesome resources is Pablo Hidalgo hes the resident Star Wars genius and he knows everything of every possible word or image that was created for Star Wars. So we utilize him a lot and hes very integrated into the process. He will say theres a cool cantina in this comic book from 1994, or a cool creature that not all of us know. He will bring that stuff to us. Or well task him were trying to create a muscle for this villain with a cool backstory. Sometimes it will be a character or a planet we dont know about. Instead of being just an Easter egg, sometimes it will turn into an a whole episode.
Is Darth Vader and the Emperor in the show? And if so is any possibility of the original voice talent being used?
I dont think Im allowed to answer that. I can say that wherever possible we would want to use the original talent.