Disclosure: I was provided an all expense paid trip to cover these Disney Events, including Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion. All opinions are my own. #DisneyInHomeEvent #StarWarsRebels
Did you tune into the Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion movie last week? We were traveling and missed it on the premiere night but thankfully caught it when it was on again. We’re excited for the series!
Tonight starts the Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion series! Are you tuning in? It’s only on Disney XD 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
We were able to sit down with the cast and chat about the movie and series. It was such a pleasure to meet them all. Stay tuned for coverage from the different interviews and if you need to catch up, start in my Disney category.
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of the Rebellion is not just for boys! My girls are just as interested as my boys. Plus there are 2 female characters that little girls can look up to and relate to.
Hera is voiced by Vanessa Marshall and Sabine is voiced by Tiya Sircar. Both of these women were wonderful to talk with. Here’s a bit of our Q&A:
Question : What was it like auditioning for the role that you had?
Tiya : I was under the impression I was auditioning for a new animated series on Disney called Wolf. And so it wasn’t until I actually got the phone call that I had gotten the job, which was great. And they said — and by the way, it’s Star Wars. And it’s like doubly exciting, ’cause I got a job and it’s not — it’s way more exciting than I even realized.
Vanessa : Well, I didn’t know what it was, but I always — everything’s a Star Wars metaphor for me. I’m a huge Star Wars fan. So, I felt that there were elements of Star Wars within the piece of copy that I read.
Tiya : Oh, wow. You and Freddy both, okay.
Vanessa : Yeah, they — well, they said that my character was a strong leader against the tyranny and da da da. And I’m like, hmm, well, all right, well, alliance.
So, I actually sort of transposed what I know about Star Wars onto the little copy [CHUCKLES], and, um, and I got a callback. And I thought, oh, cool, I’m gonna be a wolf or [LAUGHS]. And when I, when I got to the callbacks —Tiya : Oh, you saw a character.
Vanessa : — I saw a drawing of the character on the wall, and I know what — [OVERLAP]
Tiya : You were like a wait a minute.
Vanessa : — race that is. I mean that’s not a Trekkie. [CHUCKLES] You know, I know exactly what’s going on here. And it sort of dawned on me in the moment, and I had to pull it together. Because I’m such a huge fan. I — if I really thought about it, I’d probably have a heart attack. So, but I’m also a professional, so I was able to do my job and I showed up and I did a good job clearly and then I got the call. Then I hyperventilated. And my agent was literally afraid for my life. [LAUGHS] She was like, honey, do I need to call a paramedic?
[LAUGHS] And I mean she probably should have [CHUCKLES], ’cause I couldn’t stop going, oh, my God, oh, my — you know, I was crying. Ohh, anyway.
Tiya : Freddy also says that he figured it out, because Freddy and Vanessa —
Vanessa : Well, I didn’t figure it out. I just lucked out that it was in fact what it projected onto it.
Question : How do you feel about the part of this have a female character that you can actually portray these strong characters?
Vanessa : Well, Hera is the leader and while she is fierce, she’s a great fighter and a great pilot, she’s also very nurturing, and she sort of plays a maternal role within the crew. And I think she sets a really great example, and I think she does a lot of mentoring to Sabine. Now, I will also say parenthetically as a Star Wars fan, she is a Mandalorian. So I personally bow down to her character.
I do think it’s really wonderful that Star Wars Rebels embodies two female characters that we all can aspire to act like them whether we’re adults or children or even little boys or little girls.
I’ve said before that the empire universally oppresses all races and all gender to where it sort of neutralizes elements. These aren’t good women or good female characters. They’re all good people.
So that we’re not even thinking in terms of gender or class. We’re united towards doing the right thing.
So, while they are strong, female characters, it’s also kinda cool that there’s this different element that even transcends those distinctions.
Tiya : And not to get too, you know, well, social commentary on you, but — you know, there are, in my own personal opinion, there are,so many female personalities that [CHUCKLES], well, for better or worse, you know, may be famous not for a specific skill or talent but just famous for the sake of being famous. And maybe not for the right reasons — if you know what I mean.
So, it’s — such an honor you know, and it makes me cringe, you know, I don’t have kids, but it makes me cringe to think like all little girls are like — this is, this is what they have to look up to and to aspire to be, and it’s worrisome for me. So, to me, it’s such an honor to get to play this female character who, you know, Sabine’s a teenager and yet she is so intelligent and so like not even concerned about the superficial stuff whatsoever.
She’s never taken a selfie in her life, you know. [LAUGHS]
And if she knew what that was, she wouldn’t be interested. So I think it’s really — I think it’s amazing to get to play these two smart women. They are right there alongside the guys, beating up the bad guys. And, um, you know, it’s just — I hope that, that young girls and young boys, I mean can aspire to be like these characters, because they’re fighting for the greater good. They’re doing the right thing and they’re ust like really smart and savvy about it while they’re doing it. So, hope that that’s like might replace some other stereotypes out there.
Vanessa : And I think also that, that what we’re all driven by is hope. Once again in transcending gender that I hope that kids take that hope, that it’s important to have faith, to have morals, to have ethics, and adults could probably [CHUCKLES] learn from that as well. And some of those, those bigger human values that are not often embodied in, say, the people who are famous for things less than, you know, desirable. But it’s really cool. There are some very wonderful, delicious ideas that are also in– inspiring over all, you know. But I agree, definitely. These are really cool women for younger girls to emulate.
Tiya : And they’re still fun, too. It’s not all about —
Vanessa : Yeah. They’re hilarious.
Question : Talk a little bit about how you guys do this script all together.
Vanessa : Well yeah, oftentimes in an animated series, they try to get the entire group together but the previous Star Wars video games that I’ve done, I’ve been in a room by myself on a quote unquote Jedi counsel talking about people.
I mean, luckily, I know enough about the different places and things in the Star Wars universe, but it’s so much easier to interact with people, you know. We all love Star Wars, but that collective energy in the room is something that I think viewers will feel. I think it’s a real advantage. And like I said the writing of the scripts is so great. It’s really not that hard to do.
Tiya: Right.
Vanessa : I feel like we don’t do much [CHUCKLES], you know.
Tiya: It doesn’t feel like work certainly for me.
Vanessa: No. I mean obviously, it’s a job and we do work very hard. We research and all that, but I think working as a group, I think that is a part of why it bristles with so much love and energy. Yeah.
Tiya : And also I think what’s really special — makes the experience so special,aside from the fact that getting to actually act these scenes out in a room together is more enjoyable for us, but it infuses the scenes and hopefully makes for a better show. But aside from that, I think we really forge, this Motley Crew of people. Like we have this Motley Crew of characters.
Vanessa : Exactly.
Question : Who are you guys’ favorite characters in the Star Wars universe? Can you pick one or?
Vanessa : Well, you know we both love Princess Leia, because she’s a strong female character, but I also don’t wanna forget Ahsoka from the Clone Wars.
Tiya : And I have a soft spot for Han Solo, but who doesn’t? I mean — [LAUGHS]
Vaenssa : Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Tiya : But as inspiration, Leia. [CHUCKLES]
It was such a great interview. You can certainly tell that they’ve created a special bond while working on this project together. And I think that it shows in the series as well.
Tune in tonight to Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion Series and let me know what you think!
