Fresh off his Academy Award nomination for his role in The Secret Agent, Wagner Moura has ventured to a galaxy far, far away for the first time, voicing an all-new character in Star Wars who has a lot of potential. Lending his voice to the animated series, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, Moura voices Brander Lawson, the detective working for the Tactical Defense Force who is on the trail of the titular Sith lord, while operating by his own rules and trying to avoid any involvement from the Galactic Empire. He’s a compelling new character for Star Wars, and fits right in with the noir inspirations for the new Maul TV series.
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Speaking with ComicBook in an exclusive interview, Moura opened up not only about his influences for his character, but also confirmed that he’s eager to reprise the role in live-action. “I would love to play him live action,” Moura added. I don’t see this happening, but if if it does, I would love to…I think he’s a very well-written character. You know, it’s a deep dude. I think he would be a great live-action character.” As unlikely as it may seem for Moura, it has happened with frequency in recent years, with characters like Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan, Chopper, Saw Gerrera, Cad Bane, Hera Syndulla, and Sabine Wren all starting in animation before leaping to live-action.
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Moura further revealed that he immediately saw the potential for a character like Brander Lawson when he was approached, including the personal connection that he felt to the character. “I love that he’s a good guy, he’s a good cop, he’s a good father,” Moura added. “But the thing that really caught my attention… is the fact that he is a father who cannot be present the way he wanted to, which is something that resonates a lot with me as a father of three boys. I wanted to be around as much as I could. I want to be present in my kids’ lives. But sometimes, the nature of my work is to travel, to be in different places. It’s an impossible equation to solve. I think it’s a very, very well-written and designed character. I loved it right away.”
Moura noted that he’s not so much an expert in Star Wars himself, leaning on his kids to help him understand some of the context for his character and the era of the franchise that he finds himself in.
“I’ve seen all of the films,” Moura said. “My sons, sometimes I had to ask them questions about the particularities of the universe and the time frame, especially. ‘When did this happen? Who is this guy? So is he…?’ That’s something that they really helped me with.”
The actor went on to reveal an influence from one of his former roles that influenced his character
“Honestly, I thought a lot about Brazilian cops I did this film a long time ago called Elite Squad, which is a film about cops in the streets of Rio de Janeiro who had to be both super tough, but they are also human beings. The vulnerability of a character is the most important thing about them, right? So I have been in that universe, in that cop universe. And I think that was the thing that I thought about.”
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord has six episode still to premiere on Disney+, and has already been renewed for Season 2 on the platform.
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