Star Wars Outlaws Dee Bradley Baker & Jay Rincon Interview

Summary

Star Wars Outlawsbrings players into a newStar Warsadventure, and it’s full of familiar and fresh faces alike thanks to the vocal talents of Dee Bradley Baker and Jay Rincon.Star Wars: Outlawsplaces players into the role of Kay Vess, a small-time scoundrel who is forced to pull together an unlikely crew of aliens and droids to help her pull of a massive heist. Theopen-worldStar Warsgame looks to be an exciting addition to the franchise, especially for gamers looking to sew a little chaos in a galaxy far, far away.

Humberly González stars in the game as Kay, withseasonedStar Warsvoice-over actor Dee Bradley Bakerplaying her lovable alien sidekick, Nix. Alongside them is Jay Rincon’s ND-5, a Droid veteran of the Clone Wars who brings a certain western edge to the proceedings. While at San Diego Comic-Con, Screen Rant got the chance to sit down with Baker and Rincon to discuss their characters, the joys of getting to play in theStar Warssandbox, and reflect on the clones from theBad Batch.

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Dee Bradley Baker On Returning To Star Wars

Screen Rant: Dee, you’re plenty experienced with the world ofStar Warsthanks to your time playing characters like Rex inClone Wars. How do you adjust when you play someone like Nix or Jabba the Hutt, who have to communicate without traditional dialogue?

Dee Bradley Baker:Well, let me take you back to Greedo in [Star Wars: ANew Hope]. That was one of my favorite moments in the originalStar Warsmovie. I remember when I was watching it, the shock I felt watching an alien creature talk. They put subtitles to it! I can’t tell you how exciting that was for me to realize, “Oh, this isn’t just English speaking. But they’ve got languages… they’re not just making sounds. There’s meaning behind the sound.” You have the whole cantina scene, which for me was the most captivating scene of the whole movie.

I loved the creatures. I went home and drew a whole bar scene of aliens. I wanted to send it to George Lucas, because I wanted to help make creatures. I didn’t know how to get it to him [Laughter]. Of course, I never did. But that aspect ofStar Warshas always been really fascinating to me, and really interesting. It feels very familiar to me, having been a fan as a kid and watched all the movies, and then eventually getting involved withClone WarsandBad Batchand now [Star Wars Outlaws].

The wonderful element of this game is it takes you back into the world between [Empire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi], which is a really exciting period. Tyranny is on the rise and trying to cement its power, which creates this political and economic situation that’s really corrupt. Crime thrives under that.

You have people like Han Solo and Lando, and now Kay Vess, who is just trying to survive and make their way through it. We get to be involved in creating this open-ended world at this really exciting moment inStar Wars. It plays out like a vast movie that you can just jump into and play along with. It’s very exciting.

And on top of playing Key’s little alien buddy Nix, you’re also getting to play Jabba!

Dee:It’s exciting to to voice Jabba. Playing a classic character, that was thrilling to me. Fans are well aware of very different creature [Nix]. He’s speaking Huttense, which is the language on Tatooine. That’s very different from voicing this little critter Nix, who’s almost a cross between a Wookie and a droid. He makes sounds that you may’t necessarily understand but he’s saying something. But Kay Vess, she understands what he’s saying. With both Nix and Jabba, they’re both saying something very specific under those those utterances.

Finding The Humanity In ND-5

Jay, this is your first time really taking the spotlight in aStar Warsproject like this. What’s it like stepping into this kind of creative sandbox?

Jay Rincon:It’s incredible. I mean, it’s a dream come true. That’s the best way to say it. Even now, it’s only starting to really hit and land with me… the grand scope of it all, I think you try and push it aside once you start. I remember the audition, we we went through many rounds of auditions. By the time we had the chemistry read, even then I wasn’t quite sure how much I’d be reading that day or what I’d be doing. I was given these different time slots, and I was reading with different actors.

About halfway through this chemistry read day, they came out said “Oh, by the way, I don’t think you know yet, but you have the part and this isStar Wars.” When you hear those two words, — before that, it was all business as usual. You go in and you put on a competent air and you perform. I had an idea of what it is that I’m trying to give to them. But then once you hear those [Star Wars], you’re like, okay, all right, because that whole galaxy just opens up.

You start to compare yourself to what already exists. Because there is so much that you can draw from! There’s loads to pull from. If anything, it actually makes you feel far more supported. There’s loads of research to do. And when you show up with what you want to do, there are loads of guidelines. It’s amazing.

Kay Vess and Nix in the cover of the game

It’s an interesting challenge you’ve been given with ND-5, who is this veteran droid. He’s effectively a western character, an old war dog who fought for the losing side and is just making his way through the galaxy.

Jason:I mean, that’s the first thing that you dive into after you kind of settle in and figure out how you’re gonna play your part. We all know how droids sound. We know there’s humor to them. They have this sardonic approach to things. But there’s so much about ND-5 that is amazing to tackle. The uniqueness of the western feel, being battle hardened through the Clone Wars, the duster coat… just that image of this droid with this trench coat blowing in the wind.

He’s this kind of brooding force that’s walking around with Kay in the underworld. It’s an incredible image and all of that lends to the performance. It just makes it so much more fun to play. How can I not love him? How could I not love doing it every single day? He might be the first droid with style.

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Reflecting On Rex’s Past, Present, And Future

Dee, I’ve got to ask- how do you think Rex would response to meeting someone like Kay?

Dee:Around this point in theStar Warsstory, I think Rex was still around at this moment. Rex is pretty much freelance himself by this point. He started as a very kind of buttoned down soldier. Then there was a particular episode in theClone Wars, “The Deserter,” I believe, with Cut Lawquane. He was a Clone who survived a disastrous mission, where everyone died but him. Afterwards, he went off and just started a family, and has a different way of viewing what his role is in the galaxy.

Since then, I think Rex has become increasingly improvisational and open in terms of how he solves [conflicts] and problems, how he goes about missions. A lot of that plays out inRebels, for instance. It’s not like a top-down military, we’re just improvising our way through the story. I think by the time we’re [at the point ofStar Wars Outlaws], I think he’d do quite well with them.

If we could hypothetically see Rex or the Bad Batch again, where would you want to revisit them within the timeline?

Dee:Personally and selfishly, what I would love to see is… I would love to see Rex, Gregor, Echo, and Wolffe, and maybe even Cody, and see what they do to get them… [to what] we saw inRebels. What do these rogue clones now do once the events that transpired inBad Batchhave played out? I’d love to see that. I think fans would do. Where are the clones? I don’t know where they are, but they’re still there, and these stories can still be explored.

That’s one of the wonderful things aboutStar Wars; you don’t have to take everything forward in a linear path, you may go sideways and you can go backwards. You can pick a point in that timeline and just open that up, and there you have a galaxy of wondrous fun available at any point.

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What would you both say was the biggest surprise you encountered during the production onStar Wars Outlaws?

Jason:For me, it was bringing the humanity to a droid. There are complex droids in Star Wars. There’s loads of complexity. But like you said, ND-5 is a veteran of the Clone Wars. Being a relic and then having kind of that surly attitude that you bring to the relationship and the experiences that he goes through inStar Wars Outlaws, just having that kind of grounded, personal human approach felt fresh for me.

That was something that I wanted to try and keep as natural as possible. I was given all the limitations in the world, there were definitely times when I was probably too human or too aggressive and they had me pull it back. But that was the thing I had the most fun bringing to the table.

Dee:The pleasant surprise for me is just how how natural and real this full-fledged open-world feels. It’s giving a dimension to thatStar Warsworld that was not there before. It’s so open-ended and so fast. I think that’s the most fun aspect.

What aspect of the game are you most excited for players to sink their teeth into?

Jason:When we talk about [Star Wars Outlaws], I think of myself playing with toys when I was a child… in my imagination, I’m there. This is my favorite time period of this entire galaxy and of the whole story. With this open-world aspect, you’re going to be there as well. There are all these things that have been created, we now have so many spin-offs that are right there in the peripheral.

Now, you are in your own personal version of that. When you get to get hands on the Trailblazer and fly through the galaxy, where you know things are happening at any point that are so epic, that’s still your own personal journey. We get to be those avatars for you and I hope that you fall in love with the ones that we created.

Dee:I think fans will really be excited to not only have the adventure and the missions available, but also to have these worlds open to explore, to interact with the creatures and the characters. To even go into cantinas and play casual gaming. You can do all these different variations of living in this world. It’s whatever you want. That’s the great freedom and fun of the game, I think.