Star Wars Rebels: It’s Official, Jason Isaacs Will Voice The Inquisitor
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We’ve heard the rumors and rumblings for quite some time, but now it is official, Jason Isaacs will take an adventure to a galaxy far, far away. He will lend his stern, serious voice to the Inquisitor, the main villain, and the first character we met, from Disney and Lucasfilm’s upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels.
The Inquisitor is a particularly nasty fellow, tasked with tracking down and doing away with any remaining Jedi Knights he can find after Order 66 breaks up the band. In the wake of the Clone Wars, the Empire is out to squash anyone who may be a threat to them, such as the former guardians of the Galactic Republic, or at least any who may still be alive, which isn’t all that many, to be honest.
This Jedi hunter is a member of the Pau’un race, a largely humanoid people who hail from the planet Utapau. Located in the Outer Rim Territories, these are a long-lived people, also known as ancients, and generally regarded as a friendly race. Apparently the Inquisitor didn’t get the memo.
According to Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, “He’s cold, he’s analytical, he doesn’t get angry…We all took care to make sure our villains have real presence and our heroes just can’t walk all over him. This isn’t like cartoons I grew up with in the 80s where you’d have the villain lose every week and yet every week we’d have to believe he’s some sort of threat. When The Inquisitor shows up, it means something significant and it’s a definite challenge for our heroes.”
This video digs into the character a little deeper.
Isaacs is definitely a strong choice for this part. Most widely known for playing the evil dickweed Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, the British actor has grim, sinister voice and an overall menacing countenance that should serve him very, very well when it comes to this role. Recent rumors about J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII have indicated that the Inquisitor, or possibly just his Jedi-hunting methodology, could figure prominently in the new trilogy of films, but even though we’ve been promised that Rebels has serious ties to the new films, the connection remains unclear.
Rebels is set in the time after Revenge of the Sith, but five years before the events of A New Hope. As the Empire tightens its grip on the galaxy, the seeds of what will ultimately become the Rebel Alliance begin to sprout. The action follows a small group of resistors that include Sabine, Kanan, Hera, Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper as they fly around the outer regions in their ship the Ghost, trying to keep the darkness at bay.
Freddie Prinze Jr., Tiya Sircar, Steve Blum, Taylor Grey, and Vanessa Marshall all lend their voices to the show, which is executive produced by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman. Given the time frame, you can also expect to encounter some familiar faces. We already know that Billy Dee Williams will reprise his Lando Calirssian role, and that Obi-Wan Kenobi (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), among others, will show up.
Star Wars Rebels will have a strong presence at San Diego Comic-Con later this month, so we can expect even more news on this front soon. The show hits this fall with a two-part premiere on the Disney Channel before moving to its permanent home on Disney XD.
