Dee Bradley Baker on saying goodbye to “Star Wars: The Bad Batch”

The "Star Wars" voice acting legend explains how he literally talks to himself while recording.

There are a few voices that will forever be associated with the Star Wars universe: Think of James Earl Jones’ booming baritone, Anthony Daniels’ prim delivery, or Frank Oz’s signature Yoda backward-speak. But perhaps no actor has left as much of an impact — or voiced quite as many characters — as Dee Bradley Baker, the veteran voice actor who’s played nearly every clone in the franchise.

Beginning with 2008’s Clone Wars movie, Baker has lent his voice to countless characters, from fan favorites like Captain Rex to entire platoons of clone soldiers. And for the last few years, he’s literally been talking to himself as the voice of The Bad Batch, playing every one of the series’ quirky clones. (And there are a lot of clones in this show.)

Now, The Bad Batch is coming to a close, as the story of Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, Echo, and Omega (voiced by Michelle Ang) wraps up in the show’s third and final season. With the first three episodes now streaming on Disney+, Baker joined EW’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast to talk about saying goodbye to everyone’s favorite band of ragtag mercenaries.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you feel going into this season, knowing that this was going to conclude the Bad Batch story?

DEE BRADLEY BAKER: Well, the story of the Bad Batch launched with a really spectacular opener, with Order 66 and this sudden galvanizing of what these guys are doing. They’re no longer just kicking around the universe as hotshot mercenaries. They’re in the middle of a really serious intergalactic shift that it is happening. This is clearly the story of them waking up to that and seeing what they’re going to do about it.

Then, you bring on board this kid of all things, and that completely transforms the stakes of their predicament and what they’re trying to do. So, all of these really charged aspects of their world that started at the beginning of The Bad Batch, all of this is being brought home and brought to final landing with this season 3. So, it’s a very exciting story that is at once very big, but it’s also very personal.

That makes sense. You’ve got this big backdrop of battling the Empire, but deep down, it’s ultimately a story about family.

It’s huge. You’ve got Palpatine and Moff Tarkin, and you’ve got the big baddies. This is on their radar, and that’s the big story that’s playing out. But like you’re saying, you also have a family that wants to not only survive and make sure that everyone’s okay, but they need to find their place in this. They need to find their way through this and how they’re going to commit: Are they going to cut and run? Are they going to fight? What are they going to do? That’s the story of the Bad Batch.

You’ve talked before about how interesting it is to record with this show, where you’re basically in the booth having conversations with yourself, voicing up to five different characters at the same time. Has that gotten easier with time, or has it always felt like second nature?

With the talking to myself as a room of clones, that first took a little bit of focus. It took a little bit of extra energy to keep everybody clear. But as we kicked along with it, it became easier and easier. It was actually a little bit easier with the Bad Batch themselves because they’re so different. They’re each a distinct and different character. So, it made it a little bit easier from my angle as an actor to read through the scenes as this team of soldiers if they’re different people. So, it was actually a little bit easier, especially once we relaxed into their characters and to the dynamic of what was playing out.

Of the clones, I particularly wanted to ask about Crosshair. His evolution to me has been one of the most fascinating parts of this story. Tell me a little bit about how you wanted to approach him and the journey he goes on.

Crosshair is the most transactional and cynical — the least warm fuzzy you could possibly imagine. [Laughs] He’s kind of a sour, old, solitary lion-snake that hangs in the background and then strikes from a distance. But he’s no longer able to maintain this distance, that’s the thing. He’s tried that, and he tried to go the solitary way, which made sense to him, but he’s seen the consequences for that. Now, almost improbably, it’s Omega that comes round to say, “I’m going to help you. You need help, and we can do this.” That someone who seems lost and beyond redemption actually has a ray of hope of someone reaching out to him like that, it’s a very affecting thing.

It’s a beautiful thing to see. It’s a very human thing, and I think humans need that sense of hope and redemption. I think that’s a key thing about Star Wars, really, that they’ve honed down on. In this particular branch of the Star Wars story in The Bad Batch, it’s a new way to encapsulate the journey of redemption and hope. And that definitely centers on Crosshair.

I’m curious: You’ve been part of the Star Wars galaxy for more than 15 years now, and you’ve voiced countless characters. Do you know the number of unique clones you’ve voiced? It’s got to be a crazy number, right?

Fans will give me posters that they’ve made of all the characters. I’m like, “I remember the name, but I need to go back and review this!” [Laughs] Some I do remember, and I feel like I still know them well, like Gregor or Cut Lawquane or 99 or Hevy or Fives. There’s a number of them that are prominent, but there’s a whole range of them that are no less valuable to me, but maybe they were just one-offs.

But you’ll still find a fan who’s like, “Yeah, I really love Kix.” “What episode was he in?” “Oh, he was in the second season, fifth episode.” I’m like, “I believe you!” And of course, they’re always right.

What’s it like for you to think about your journey with Star Wars? When you got the job on the original Clone Wars, did you have any idea that you would be here years later, telling this new chapter of that story?

As a voice actor, you start out on a series innocent of anything that’s about to happen. You just don’t know. For me, no one was more surprised than me that I even got cast in this. “I’m going to be soldiers? I’m normally doing the weird, comedic stuff. But soldiers?” I wouldn’t have thought myself capable of this. I wouldn’t have thought to cast myself as this.

So for me, it’s very satisfying creatively and as an actor to have found this within me, through the trust of Dave Filoni and the whole gang. I’m just lucky to be along for the ride. George Lucas said, “Let’s try it this way,” and then kind of improbably, it became this little escape pod that made it out of the Clone Wars and made it down to Tatooine, and by golly, the story continues with The Bad Batch. That’s kind of how it feels. It’s like this really improbable adventure that took me to all these incredible places and worlds that I never would’ve imagined. I just feel so lucky to have been along for the ride on that.

I have to ask about one more Star Wars character you voiced: the Frog Lady on The Mandalorian. Did you ever expect that character to become such a breakout hit?

No! [Laughs] The Frog Lady and the Frog Man, I voiced them both. But it’s something that you become familiar with when you’re on the Star Wars space train: Any character, any little character standing in the corner, is no less important than Yoda or Darth Vader or whoever. Every aspect of this world, people embrace it. They want to live in it. They want to meet the characters that are in it, the people that inhabit it. That’s part of what’s so wonderful about Star Wars. You don’t just want to say hello to Yoda and then walk away. You want to dress up, get the cosplay going, get the whole family into it. You want to be in this world.

It's like the original Star Wars, the bar scene in Tatooine. I want to see all these creatures hang out! I’m like, “Whoa, stop, pause it. I want to look at that character for a while. I want to meet all of it.” That’s how it feels to me.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

To listen to our entire interview with Baker — as well as other Star Wars luminaries like Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Rosario Dawson, Billy Dee Williams, and more — check out the Dagboah Dispatch podcast.

Related content:

·     Watch Dee Bradley Baker voice all the Star Wars: The Bad Batch clones

·     Star Wars: The Bad Batch producers promise 'familiar faces' on the show

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.