‘Star Wars Rebels’ Finale Reveals the Real Voice of Chopper

In the original trilogy of Star Wars films, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker were credited with bringing C-3PO and R2-D2 to life, respectively, with sound designer Ben Burtt responsible for providing the latter with its signature “voice.” The debut of the animated series Star Wars Rebels had an interesting piece of information in the credits, as the mischievous droid Chopper was credited as “Himself.” Now that the series has concluded, the final episode revealed that executive producer Dave Filoni provided Chopper with his voice.

When asked at a Q&A event that followed a fan screening of the finale, Filoni opened up about why he chose to come clean, sharing, “Show’s over, so it was kind of then or never.”

The producer kept pretty quiet about the detail, yet did let one fan in on the secret, who kept her word up until the very end of the series.

“A little tiny child asked me who played Chopper and I absolutely told her the truth,” Filoni confirmed. “She never said anything… Kids are smart that way, they make promises and they keep it. That’s why they get Star Wars.”

The young girl’s father took to Twitter to confirm how difficult it was for her to keep the information to herself, despite regularly being asked about it.

The producer hadn’t intended to voice the astromech, but when the CEO of Disney likes your work, you have to embrace the part.

“I wound up playing Chopper, I’ll tell this short story because we had to deliver the first short to Disney to watch and we didn’t have a final Chopper voice. And I said, ‘Alright, I’m going to just do this.’ We did it right in the editorial in Lucasfilm,” Filoni confirmed. “I knew what a likable jerk is like and what I wanted him to be like. Then when we screened it, [Disney CEO] Bob Iger said, ‘I really like that little droid.’ And I was like, ‘Well, now I’m stuck.’”

He might have been reluctant to accept the duty, yet Filoni confirmed that it showed him an all-new side of bringing the show to life.

“It’s good because it gets you used to what you guys go through as actors,” the producer noted. “It helps me understand what you need to know.”

Are you surprised to know Filoni voiced the droid? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T GameSpot]