Picking up where “Empire Day” leaves off, “Gathering Forces” finds the Ghost crew pursued by the Inquisitor. During the chase, Ezra grows angry with his old family friend Tseebo, who may have answers as to the fate of Ezra’s parents. Later, Ezra does confront his fear and connects with the Force; but during a confrontation with the Inquisitor, he unknowingly embraces the power of the dark side.
At the Art and Science of Lucasfilm panel in partnership with the San Francisco Film Society Education, executive producer Dave Filoni discussed why his team created the Star Wars Rebels series. “We all kind of felt pretty strongly that in George [Lucas]’ absence,” he says, “as we were moving on with the company and he wasn’t, that we shouldn’t make that story anymore about Clone Wars without him…We thought we’d tell the story about rebels.” It also allows them to put some humor into the series, with the heroes a little more fun and on the run from the villains.
In this week’s deep dive, Lucasfilm’s Andi Gutierrez talks to associate producer Carrie Beck about creating villains, particularly the Inquisitor. “It’s important to understand,” she says, “what their ideology is.” Filoni says that the voice provided by Jason Isaacs for the Inquisitor is essential. “Jason does such a fantastic job at being this guy,” he says, “and bringing a calmness to his evil, an intellectual aspect to his evil, that we haven’t really had before.” The Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo explains that there is a parallel between the Inquisitor in Rebels and the villains of the old Star Wars role playing games.
“Gathering Forces” delves more into Ezra’s backstory, but voice actor Taylor Gray says he’s been kept in the dark. “I’m lucky to get anything that’s even in the episode,” he reveals. Filoni explains that there is an overall outline for their characters, they’re “open to opportunities that come along the way.”