Dee Bradley Baker Reflects on ‘The Bad Batch’, His Long History With ‘Star Wars’ and Challenges of Playing Many Characters Simultaneously
The third and final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch started just days ago on Disney Plus, and the show’s impending conclusion marks the end of an era. Throughout its run, fans have gotten to see what became of some of their favorite characters from that earlier show in the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith.
Renowned voice actor Dee Bradley Baker has portrayed the saga’s iconic clone troopers in many different projects since his initial casting for The Clone Wars animated movie in 2008. From the follow-up series to Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, and countless forms of tie-in media, Baker has been there for it all.
Now, as The Bad Batch prepares to end its story, Baker has been participating in interviews in which he discusses his time working on the show as well as his long association with the Star Wars saga. Entertainment Weekly recently spoke with the actor about his feelings on the series coming to an end, how he voices multiple clones at once, and more.
Baker started the conversation by talking about why he feels the story of The Bad Batch is so engaging and what he believes it’s really about at its core:
“Well, the story of the Bad Batch launched with a really spectacular opener, with Order 66 and this sudden galvanizing of what these guys are doing. They’re no longer just kicking around the universe as hotshot mercenaries. They’re in the middle of a really serious intergalactic shift that it is happening. [sic] This is clearly the story of them waking up to that and seeing what they’re going to do about it.
“Then, you bring on board this kid of all things, and that completely transforms the stakes of their predicament and what they’re trying to do. So, all of these really charged aspects of their world that started at the beginning of The Bad Batch, all of this is being brought home and brought to final landing with this season 3. [sic] So, it’s a very exciting story that is at once very big, but it’s also very personal.
“It’s huge. You’ve got Palpatine and Moff Tarkin, and you’ve got the big baddies. This is on their radar, and that’s the big story that’s playing out. But like you’re saying, you also have a family that wants to not only survive and make sure that everyone’s okay, but they need to find their place in this. They need to find their way through this and how they’re going to commit: Are they going to cut and run? Are they going to fight? What are they going to do? That’s the story of the Bad Batch.”
Acting in any major production can be challenging at times, even more so when a performer has to play more than one character at the same time. Given that Baker’s Star Wars tenure has often required him to portray several characters in the same scene, it’s a testament to his skill that he’s consistently made them come across as distinct individuals.
The interviewer made sure to ask Baker what it’s like for him to voice so many characters at once and if it remains difficult:
“With the talking to myself as a room of clones, that first took a little bit of focus. It took a little bit of extra energy to keep everybody clear. But as we kicked along with it, it became easier and easier. It was actually a little bit easier with the Bad Batch themselves because they’re so different. They’re each a distinct and different character. So, it made it a little bit easier from my angle as an actor to read through the scenes as this team of soldiers if they’re different people. So, it was actually a little bit easier, especially once we relaxed into their characters and to the dynamic of what was playing out…”
Baker has contributed his talents to Star Wars projects for 16 years and counting at this point, and in that time he has voiced a great many characters, most of them being clones. When asked if he knows precisely how many clones he’s brought to life over the years, the actor had this to say:
“Fans will give me posters that they’ve made of all the characters. I’m like, ‘I remember the name, but I need to go back and review this!’ [Laughs] Some I do remember, and I feel like I still know them well, like Gregor or Cut Lawquane or 99 or Hevy or Fives. There’s a number of them that are prominent, but there’s a whole range of them that are no less valuable to me, but maybe they were just one-offs.
“But you’ll still find a fan who’s like, ‘Yeah, I really love Kix.’ ‘What episode was he in?’ ‘Oh, he was in the second season, fifth episode.’ I’m like, ‘I believe you!’ And of course, they’re always right.”
When Baker started voicing clone troopers all those years ago, few could have anticipated that he’d have such a long and celebrated career voicing Star Wars characters. Baker himself was shocked he was cast at all in The Clone Wars back in 2008:
“As a voice actor, you start out on a series innocent of anything that’s about to happen. You just don’t know. For me, no one was more surprised than me that I even got cast in this. ‘I’m going to be soldiers? I’m normally doing the weird, comedic stuff. But soldiers?’ I wouldn’t have thought myself capable of this. I wouldn’t have thought to cast myself as this.
“So for me, it’s very satisfying creatively and as an actor to have found this within me, through the trust of Dave Filoni and the whole gang. I’m just lucky to be along for the ride. George Lucas said, ‘Let’s try it this way,’ and then kind of improbably, it became this little escape pod that made it out of the Clone Wars and made it down to Tatooine, and by golly, the story continues with The Bad Batch. That’s kind of how it feels. It’s like this really improbable adventure that took me to all these incredible places and worlds that I never would’ve imagined. I just feel so lucky to have been along for the ride on that.”
It’s safe to say that many Star Wars fans, especially longtime viewers of the recent animated series, are grateful that Baker has stayed with the saga for so long. It remains to be seen if Baker will have the opportunity to keep voicing clone troopers after the conclusion of The Bad Batch, but fans can no doubt expect to hear him in plenty of upcoming projects. Lest we forget, Baker has also played characters like Nubs in Young Jedi Adventures and will portray the main character’s faithful pet, Nix, in this year’s Star Wars Outlaws.
At any rate, Baker has plenty to be proud of in his Star Wars tenure, and the saga is better for having him in it.
For the full interview, you can head over to Entertainment Weekly.
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
