Forces of Destiny

One of the announcements from Star Wars Celebration that really excited me was “Forces of Destiny”. “Forces of Destiny” is a TV series that will focus on the female heroines of the Star Wars universe and will be rendered in 2D animation. Star Wars hasn’t been animated in two dimensions since the highly-acclaimed amazingly-awesome Tartakovsky's Clone Wars that aired between “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith”. Like Tartakosky’s “Clone Wars” series, the “Forces of Destiny” episodes will be quite short (Three minutes in length). It is set to premiere in July on the Disney channel. Sixteen total episodes will air in 2017. Here are the announced characters and voice-cast for the series:

Ashley Eckstein has been voicing Ahsoka Tano since 2008 in television shows, videogames, and audiobooks. Many fans have followed Ahsoka’s adventures for years and she has become a fan favorite. If I’ve learned anything in my years of Star Wars blogging- it is do not make fun of Ahsoka Tano if you don’t want to piss off fans. The comment section of a video that I posted on Youtube last summer is evidence for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU33mX9mKJc

Ashley Eckstein first appeared on television as a contestant on Nickelodeon Guts, and had a recurring role on “That’s So Raven”. With “Star Wars: Rebels” in its last season, it’s going to be interesting to see if Eckstein / Ahsoka has any future in the Star Wars franchise.

British actress Daisy Ridley is the first actress to play the lead character in a Star Wars film. Director J.J. Abrahms thought it important to cast an unknown actor for Rey. In addition to the Star Wars sequels, Daisy has voiced Rey in “Disney Infinity 3.0” and “Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

Since the release of “The Force Awakens”, internet has been buzzing about Rey’s parentage. Is she a Solo? A Skywalker? A Kenobi? Is her parentage important or mundane? We are certain to learn more in “The Last Jedi”.

British actress Felicity Jones is the second actress to play the lead character in a Star Wars film. Jones was nominated for an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking’s wife in “The Theory of Everything” in 2015 and began filming Rogue One later that year. The character of Jyn Erso is the newest character to Star Wars that will be featured in “Force of Destiny”. It is safe to say that fans don’t connect to the character in the same ways that they connect with Ahsoka or Rey. Although I’m sure this has more to do with the often-somber Rogue One script than the amazing acting abilities of Felicity Jones. It’s hard to see Jyn Erso playing much of a role in the future of Star Wars, but it will be interesting to see what “Forces of Destiny” does with her.

Shelby Young is new to the role of Princess Leia. I’m not sure why Julie Dolan (who voices Leia in “Rebels”, “The Freemaker Adventures”, “Disney Infinity”, “Star Tours”, and “Star Wars: Uprising”) did not return to voice the Princess again. Shelby Young has done some minor voice work in the past, but this would seem to be a break-out role for her, especially if Disney uses her talents for Leia in the future.

Leia has always been a symbol of female empowerment. She not only paved the way for female Star Wars characters, but strong female action stars in general. I could easily name 100 amazing female Star Wars characters off the top of my head that would not exist if not for Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia. Leia’s last theatrical Star Wars film will be “The Last Jedi”.

Vanessa Marshall first voiced a Star Wars character in the 2002, video game “Jedi Outcast”. She has voiced Hera Sendulla for “Rebels” and “The Freemaker Adventures”.  She also voiced a female rebel pilot in “Rogue One”.  

Hera is probably my favorite “Rebels” character. She is the calm rational cool-mom character who is not afraid to jump into a fight. Her secret / not-so-secret romance with Kanan Jarrus is really the highlight of the show for me. Actually I would be elated if all the other characters were killed off and the show just focused on Hera and Kanan. Since it is known that Hera pilots The Ghost in the Battle of Scarif, it actually seems quite promising that we will see more out of this character in the future.

Catherine Taber voiced Padme in several seasons of “Clone Wars” and is back to voice Padme in “Forces of Destiny”.  Other than Padme, Taber voiced a Twi’lek named Mission Vao in the 2003 game “Knights of the Old Republic” and also a Twi’lek named Numa who appeared in both “Clone Wars” & “Rebels”. She also voiced Princess Leia in “The Force Unleashed” video games.

The character of Padme has been largely ignored by Disney since the acquisition. In fact most prequel-related items has been largely ignored by Disney. I think Padme’s legacy is a tricky one. She is the mother of Luke and Leia and is another example of a strong female presence in the Star Wars franchise. She was originally played by Natalie Portman who has since been nominated for three Oscars and won one for Black Swan. However, the character was a bit tainted by the prequels. The love scenes between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christenson are some of the most mocked scenes of the franchise. Personally, I wish Padme would have gone out on a high note, instead of dying in childbirth of a broken heart. That wasn’t very feminist of her, was it?

Tiya Sircar was first brought into the limelight for her role in the 2013 comedy, “The Internship”. In 2014 she starred in a CBS pilot called “How I Met Your Dad”, a spinoff of “How I Met Your Mother” that CBS ultimately passed on. The Star Wars community of course knows her as Sabine Wren.

Sebine’s character starts as little more than a graffiti artist in the early seasons of Rebels, however her role becomes a little more interesting after she acquires the Darksaber and returns to Mandalore. Like many of her crew members, Sabine tends to change her hairstyle from season to season. With “Rebels” ending next Spring with Season 4, it seems that the fate of this character is questionable- although I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney used Sabine as the face of Mandalore for Star Wars stories in the future.

Lupita Nyong’o is the first Mexican actress to win an Academy Award. Nope, that isn’t a typo. Although Lupita was born in Mexico City, she grew up in Kenya and her parents are Kenyan. Lupita voices Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequels and also voiced Maz in “Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

I think fandom is still skeptical of Maz. Many fans think she is simply a “New Yoda”. Yet it is important to note that Maz is the first major female alien of the Star Wars films. I think it’s important that females can be the wise Yoda / Obi-Wan types and not only the kick-ass Leia / Rey types. Maz is a bit of an enigmatic figure. She has been called “The Pirate Queen” and is over a thousand years old. Maz will serve as the narrator to “Forces of Destiny” and can be seen in concept art stirring some kind of soup next to a tiny bulbous creature.

Strong female characters in Star Wars have been plentiful in The Expanded Universe since the early nineties, although it wasn't until the Disney Acquisition that we saw a big migration of female roles into the films. When Lucas was in charge we pretty much had Leia then Padme, but with Kathleen Kennedy now the President of Lucasfilm it is exciting to see a Star Wars universe almost driven by female protagonists. I think many female fans of Star Wars came for Princess Leia, but they have a lot more to stick around for these days. I, for one, can't wait for this series!