Star Wars: Freddie Prinze Jr. Opens Up About His The Rise of Skywalker Cameo

The chorus of Jedi helping Rey find the resolve to save the universe is one of the standout moments of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Some fans may have been surprised to hear Kanan Jarrus among those voices when the film release. The Jedi’s voice actor, Freddie Prinze Jr. sat down with IGN to talk about how the cameo became a reality. It turns out, J.J. Abrams wanted this to be the big moment that people would be talking about for a long time. In that regard, he absolutely succeeded. Dave Filoni was the one to call Kanan off the bench for The Rise of Skywalker.

“I was like, yeah, whatever you guys need. I always like to do that. And they were like, ‘okay, but this one might be a little different,’” Prinze recalled. “And so right away I was like, ‘oh, it’s for the movie!’”

Prince would go on to mention that this was just for voice lines. But, in the hype leading to The Rise of Skywalker, all sorts of wild things were said to be on the table. Force ghosts and all that stuff were being murmured about on the Internet.

“JJ came in and kind of broke down the scene, and what was happening, and what was going on with Rey and what she was needing from the Jedi at that point, because the Force provides you with what you need – not the Jedi per se, it’s the Force kind of dictating that,” he elaborated.

When that scene was recorded, he and the other Jedi present all had the same set of lines. But, when he saw the film for himself, it became clear how the effect was supposed to come across. Many were just thrilled to hear the animated heroes put shoulder to shoulder with the live-action Jedi. Prinze thinks that fans are really going to love what Dave Filoni has planned for the franchise.

“I believe in a lot of the people they have there [at Lucasfilm], and the types of stories they want to tell, just because they’ve told me the stories they want to tell. And I think they’re great, and I can’t wait to see more of this stuff in Dave’s head get out there,” he said. “He’s told me some of the best– to where I felt like I was a kid and sitting on a pappy’s knee, and they were hearing an old story. That’s how good they are, and those haven’t even been told yet. So they have a ton of work ahead of them, and it’s all work that they’re inspired by … But I love the direction they’re going in, and I love Dave’s influence over the brand at this point.”