You don’t even have to be a major Star Wars fans to know the names Dee Bradley Baker and Matthew Wood. They are, of course, two of the preeminent voice actors to bring the animated Star Wars universe to life. Baker, especially, breathed full life into The Clone Wars as the voice of Captain Rex and the entire clone army. That led to his continued work voicing the entirety of The Bad Batch for their new series on Disney+. Wood, to the contrary, gave us one of the most iconic villains in all of the franchise: General Grievous. They got together at NYCC 2021 (New York Comic Con) to discuss their experience working in the galaxy far, far away.
Dee Bradley Baker spoke about his early days of working on The Clone Wars, telling the crowd that they had worked on the series for two years before they even had a network on which it would air. George Lucas, it seems, was the driving force behind the show’ determination and ultimate success. Wood added what Lucas told him about the new series. “’I’m only going to do eight episodes. [There’s] this guy Dave Filoni and we’ll hand it off to him….’ We [then] all stayed for the entire time… we all loved working on it so much.” That love showed in the show’s longevity, and its status as containing some of the best storytelling in all of Star Wars.
Dee Bradley Baker and Matthew Wood talk Star Wars at NYCC 2021
“As an actor… one of the things you can have in your toolbox is great improvisational openness,” said Baker. It was that ability, one he shared with Wood and the other Clone Wars actors, that truly made the show so special. That freedom led to a collaborative effort to make the show, and subsequently The Bad Batch, flow so freely. Dee Bradley Baker even revealed to the NYCC 2021 his favorite clones: Ninety-Nine, Cut (because he’s a dad) and the ill-fated Fives.
The two even got to chat about another beloved voice actor, Tom Kane, who retired due to health concerns. “Nothing but kindness and good feelings for Tom,” said Wood. Both he and Baker described Kane as the perfect emissary for Star Wars… As if Matthew Wood and Dee Bradley Baker weren’t the same, themselves.
For more stories like this from NYCC 2021, stay tuned to That Hashtag Show.
