Dragon Con’s Star Wars track brought together a stellar group of actors to the Marriott Atrium ballroom Friday 1PM for a fascinating hour of conversation. Moderator Steve Denham led Diana Lee Inosanto (The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, Star Wars: Ahsoka,) Simon Kassianides (The Mandalorian), Katee Sackhoff (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian,) Emily Swallow (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett), Sam Witwer (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Solo: A Star Wars Story,) and Matthew Wood (Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Skywalker Sound) in a wide-ranging Q&A.

The hour began with the traditional “reaction to your first Dragon Con” question. Inosanto was struck by the contagious energy and passion of the members. Kassianides (born and raised in London) making his first trip to Atlanta, praised the city for all it had to offer. Swallow simply declared that she was looking forward to a “quiet, low-key weekend,” but it was Sackhoff who won the crowd over when she declared that she was already planning for next year and “will cosplay the sh*t out of it.”  

Star Wars is a creative phenomenon that calls upon artists and actors (whether on screen or voice) to bring their very best to work every day. This came to the surface when a member asked the panel about preparing for their respective roles. Inosanto grew up in the world of martial arts, studying Jeet Kune Do under the direction of her father Dan Inosanto. This training and experience served her well for the fighting scenes she took part in. Beyond that, however, it was her training in theater, and in particular Shakespeare that prepared her for the role. Swallow also tapped into her training as a stage actor and student of Shakespeare to bring the armorer to life. Swallow paid homage to her training in mask work while in theater school. Mandalorians are mask wearers, and playing one with a mask in place requires an actor to engage the work in a different way. Primarily a voice actor in Star Wars, Witwer too harkened back to his training at the Juilliard School, acknowledging his voice teacher who (he had no doubt) would, upon their reunion, declare that Witwer was “doing it all wrong!”

Sackhoff pointed out that she loves people who are committed to their work, regardless of the project. For her, coming to work on time, being prepared, kind, and dedicated were the hallmarks of professionalism and the characteristics that she respected the most. In the case of Star Wars, this is doubly so because most have grown up with it. The panelists spoke in turn about this desire to respect and honor the world of Star Wars. Matthew Wood grew up fifty miles away from Skywalker ranch and when he began his career at Skywalker sound, he immediately sensed that the artists constantly strove to push the work, achieve more, and “make it bigger!” Witwer, born in 1977, has literally spent his life interacting with Star Wars. A self-described “super fan” and “geek,” he remembers watching the original trilogy on VHS and being passionately devoted to the Star Wars role playing game. He and his friends were constantly offering up theories and creating scenarios. In fact, Witwer has used some of that material in his professional work. When Star Wars premiered in the summer of 1977, Inosanto was in Colorado with her father, who was leading a martial arts camp. Her family, along with the rest of the townsfolk, went to the local theater to watch the film. Captivated by the light saber duel between Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi, Dan Inosanto returned to the camp and began to envision a duel in which one fighter would use not one saber, but two. He and Diana trained using two sticks, imagining that they were light sabers. 

Respecting the work and reveling in the great fortune working in this franchise represents, echoed throughout the hour. Witwer, who can proclaim that he “out geeked” Dave Filoni, captured the sentiment when he pointed out that while most film makers have one big idea upon which they build the story and their film, Lucas brought seventy-five. His genius was such that, whether the technology existed to allow them to be realized the way he wanted them to or not, they made sense and seemed natural to the cosmos he created. Everyone on the stage and in the audience understood and completely agreed. It was a great hour indeed.