The irreplaceable Jim Cummings lent his voice to the rapscallion smuggler Hondo Ohnaka in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, and it took no time at all for him to become a firm fan-favourite. That's evident from the fact the character has been brought to life as an animatronic in Galaxy's Edge, making him a staple of both Disneyland and Disney World.
However, could we ever see the character make a true live-action debut?
During a recent appearance at Atlanta's DragonCon (via SFFGazette.com), Cummings revealed that it's possible but claimed he's yet to be contacted about lending his voice to Hondo on screen again. "Probably, yes and yes, but they haven’t talked to me about it," the actor said. "I don’t know why, I mean...yeah. I’m there. I ain’t goin' nowhere."
Adopting his character's voice, he pointed out that "it definitely would be Ahsoka" when asked who he'd like to share the screen with, before adding: "Can you believe [Dave Filoni] didn’t put me in [The Mandalorian]? Whatever. My girlfriend was in it! That’s where I’m pissed."
He's joking, of course, and went on to share high praise for Filoni. "He’s a great, great guy and he’s a fantastic director too, and by that I mean he kept all my ad-libs. No, but he was great. It was just a lot of fun. And you know, he lets it be organic. He lets us go for pages at a time. And he’d let us go for four or five pages at a time, so you really got the flow and I think it shows in the performances."
If Hondo does appear in live-action down the line, we have to believe it will be a similar situation to Cad Bane in The Book of Boba Fett. In that, a stand-in was transformed into a cartoon-accurate version of the bounty hunter with actor Corey Burton returning to lend his voice to the villain.
What would you like to see from Hondo in a live-action Star Wars project? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.