STAR WARS REBELS Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. Wishes He Hadn't Returned For THE BAD BATCH And EPISODE IX

STAR WARS REBELS Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. Wishes He Hadn't Returned For THE BAD BATCH And EPISODE IX

Freddie Prinze Jr. played Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels, but asked about possibly reprising the role in Ahsoka, the actor shares his regrets over recent voice cameos in The Bad Batch and Episode IX.

By JoshWilding - May 14, 2023 08:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: SFFGazette.com

Freddie Prinze Jr. played the Jedi Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels and quickly became a firm fan-favourite. The character eventually made the ultimate sacrifice to save his fellow Rebels, with it later revealed that Hera Syndulla was having his baby (a child we'll meet in Ahsoka). 

With Dave Filoni's live-action follow-up to that animated series set to include the Ghost crew, many of us have wondered whether Kanan will appear either in flashbacks or as a Force Ghost, giving Prinze Jr. the chance to play the hero in live-action for the first time. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like the actor is keen to reprise the role in any form. 

Talking to Kristian Harloff (via SFFGazette.com), he commented on his voice cameos in The Bad Batch and The Rise of Skywalker, admitting he'd rather have not done either of them, in hindsight. 

"I was asked to, yeah. I didn’t necessarily want to," Prinze Jr. admits. "I feel like every time you hear Kanan’s voice since Rebels ended, it really kind of dilutes his impact. I didn’t want to do [The Rise of Skywalker] either. I was asked as a favor and I feel like all my - all their favors are used up now."

Asked whether he could show up in Ahsoka, the Rebels alum responded, "No Ahsoka, I’m done with Kanan. I’m too old for that stuff."

Now, this may well be a case of him trying to throw fans off the scene. Lars Mikkelsen did that an awful lot prior to his return as a live-action Grand Admiral Thrawn, though it really does feel like Prinze Jr. is unhappy with those brief cameos, despite them further establishing the importance of his character.

In The Bad Batch, we finally learned more about what happened to the Padawan during Order 66, while Episode IX placed him among those who offered Rey some advice so she could defeat Emperor Palpatine!

Do you think we'll see Prinze Jr. as Kanan in Ahsoka this August?

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micvalpro
micvalpro - 5/14/2023, 8:05 PM
Freddie likes money and recognition. He ain’t going no where yet.
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/14/2023, 8:11 PM
Speaking of Prinze Jr., a Scooby Doo nostalgia sequel would make BANK. Get Gunn back to write it and you’re just printing money
dracula
dracula - 5/14/2023, 9:03 PM
@tmp3 - Gunn was actually going to direct the third movie but the second made less than the first.

Would have been more of a haunted house movie, set in Scotland
LeonNova
LeonNova - 5/14/2023, 11:42 PM
@tmp3 - Ehh, I don’t think a Scooby Doo film with a 40/50 year old Scooby Gang would sell that well
kazuma
kazuma - 5/15/2023, 12:57 AM
@tmp3 - Scooby would be dead lol.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 5/14/2023, 8:19 PM
His Kanan is one of my favorite jedi and my favorite member of the Ghost crew.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/15/2023, 12:58 AM
@HeavyMetal4Life - agreed. He had such a great arc. He and Ahsoka are some great Jedi, despite them trying to leave the Jedi life behind them
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 5/14/2023, 8:20 PM
Too busy making “I still remember what you did that summer over twenty years ago, do you?”
GhostDog
GhostDog - 5/14/2023, 8:30 PM
He’s absolutely right about the diluting
santoanderson
santoanderson - 5/14/2023, 8:31 PM
I’m honestly surprised at how candid Freddie can be. I remember a couple years ago he was asked, in an interview, if he had ever worked with an unprofessional actor. I expected him to give a diplomatic response, a la “Yeah, sure. But it’s a big industry with a lot of egos and big personalities, and inevitably things can get a little heated.” Instead he just flat out said “I worked on a season of 24, and Kiefer Sutherland is the biggest asshole in the world. I will never work with him again. You couldn’t pay me enough to work with Kiefer Sutherland again.”

I suppose his honesty is kind of refreshing, but that’s got to come back and bite him in the ass eventually, right?
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 5/14/2023, 8:39 PM
@santoanderson - well he ain’t on much stuff these days, maybe that honesty?
SATW42
SATW42 - 5/15/2023, 12:04 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - he chose to step away from live action acting and has been focusing on a wrestling passion project. He’s still trying to start his own promotion.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 5/15/2023, 12:28 AM
@SATW42 - none wrong with that
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/15/2023, 6:28 AM
@SATW42 - Between WWE, AEW, Impact, and New Japan, I really don't know how he thinks he's going to start a new wrestling promotion.

He's always going to struggle with getting funding. AEW was able to get Tony Kahn's rich family to fund it, but Tony was a huge wrestling fan that always wanted his own promotion. And AEW has some some of the best wrestlers to ever lace up the boots and they still struggle to pull 900,000 viewers a week.

The talent pool is very small now, with only unknown indy folks left, and he would need a multi-billionaire to back him up. And then he would need to go up against 2 other already established established promotions, one of those being the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

I don't want the guy to fail, but realistically every card in the deck is stacked against him.
Drace24
Drace24 - 5/15/2023, 8:25 AM
@santoanderson - Refreshing? That's just being a dick.
SATW42
SATW42 - 5/16/2023, 9:22 AM
@CorndogBurglar - I don't think he has any illusions to being the next big thing. I think he just wants to run a small indie promotion that MAYBE gets some kind of tv deal. Writers strike goes on long enough, wrestling and reality are going to get big pushes from networks again.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/16/2023, 1:05 PM
@SATW42 - And that's cool if that's his goal. One of the cool things about AEW when it started out is that it did have a bunch of no name indie talent that people had never heard of.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 5/14/2023, 9:34 PM
I lost interest in him when he went off on Star Wars fans and insulting them while defending Rey and claiming that Han gave Rey the Falcon.
He died and she just took it like she took the Skywalker lightsaber, BB8, the Jedi books, Luke’s X-Wing, Leias Lightsaber, the Lars Homestead, Chewbacca, the Skywalker name. Yeah Rey’s real original.🤷‍♂️🤣
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 5/15/2023, 1:57 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - damn I’ve never thought about her doing all that. She’s really just squatting on everyone’s old stuff
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/15/2023, 6:31 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - Thats an argument I've never heard, but is totally true lol.
captainireland
captainireland - 5/15/2023, 8:42 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - I'm sure I'll get angry replies for this, but whatever, my opinion is my own and no one has to agree with it. We can all have differing opinions without having to attack each other for them. But to be fair, nowhere in the movies is it said Rey took the Falcon or that it's not Chewie's now. Rey even refers to it as Han's ship in TROS and we never see anyone fly it without Chewie in the cockpit after Han dies. She was given the Skywalker saber by Maz Kanata and later Leia after she herself says she doesn't think she's earned it. She was also given Leia's lightsaber and Luke's X-Wing by Luke himself. I'm guessing you're kidding about the Lars homestead and Chewie, cos I highly doubt she was moving in at the end of TROS and Chewie ain't property to be given. And whether anyone thinks she should have taken the Skywalker name is a matter of opinion, and I won't begrudge anyone for feeling she should or shouldn't have taken it, but she seemed to have the approval of Luke and Leia to take it at the end TROS because both looked to approve. The only things she really took without permission were the Jedi books, but sure it's not like anyone else is needing them now anyway.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 5/14/2023, 9:52 PM

Probably everyone wishes they could go back in time & prevent themselves from being in that sh!tty movie.

MrDandy
MrDandy - 5/14/2023, 10:22 PM
Really like his Kanan but his character is dead and he’s done his part. He deserves whatever break he wants but I wouldn’t be sad to see him pop up again.
ThouBear8
ThouBear8 - 5/15/2023, 12:56 AM
That's funny, say what you will want about that movie & that show, but I felt like his role in both actually made sense & worked well. I do get why it wouldn't make much sense for him to play Kanan in live action at this point tho, as he's pushing 50.

If we never get any more Kanan, I think I'm okay with that. But if he showed up again somehow, I'd be fine with that too. Either way, just glad we got the character for as long as we did.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/15/2023, 1:00 AM
It sas odd hearing him voice a 14 or 15 year old in The Bad Batch, but that was atleast a moment that made good use of the character. TROS on the other hand just felt like fan service.

That said, I do hope he shows up in the New Jedi Order movie. Not as Kanan, but as Jacen. Think their age matches up for it to make sense.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 5/15/2023, 1:59 AM
@bkmeijer1 - did anyone even notice his voice in there? I would have never known.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/15/2023, 4:08 AM
@Shivermetimbers - I did. There were other Jedi I didn't recognise though. Most were characters we only heard a couple of times before
IcePyke
IcePyke - 5/15/2023, 2:23 AM
Freddie be like:

AC1
AC1 - 5/15/2023, 2:49 AM
I mean, does it lessen the impact of the character's arc in Rebels, though? Bad Batch is essentially a prequel while the cameo in Ep IX, while not exactly making a whole lot of sense (like most of that movie) was just his voice briefly saying something from the Netherworld of the Force - neither of them undo or change what happened in Rebels in any way.

Having said that, I love seeing actors who are protective of their characters to the point that they'd refuse a pay cheque and reject reprising the role to preserve what they'd already done, so even though I don't necessarily agree with what he said about his cameos I totally respect and commend his decision not to come back if he feels it'll dilute the character in any way.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 5/15/2023, 6:36 AM
@AC1 - It doesn't undo anything. But what I think he's saying is if he keeps popping up in things then fans don't really feel his death. Or it at least starts feeling less impactful.

Usually, in order for death to matter, in fiction or real life, we have to feel like we're saying goodbye forever to someone. But if we keep seeing them in New content then it's like we never really said goodbye at all, because we still get to enjoy that person.
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 5/15/2023, 2:54 AM
I disagree. If more appearances dilutes the character, either the character was never all that strong or the new content just isn't up to par. It's not just inherent that more = dilution. If anything, Star Wars may be the strongest example of more = better, as even the weakest elements of Star Wars has been made some of the best elements after further elaboration.

I was mid at best about the prequel era, but after all the great stuff that's been developed since, some of the best and most emotional Star Wars comes from Anakins fall and everything and everyone it effects for decades to come.

If more Kanan is bad, than Kanan isn't that strong of a character to begin with. It's a weak and ego based perspective from Freddie, more about protecting his legacy in Star Wars and being content rather than bringing more to the character and delving even deeper.
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