Sam Witwer is no stranger when it comes to Star Wars. The actor has lent his voice and likeness to The Force Unleashed series and is currently the voice of Darth Maul in the animated Clone Wars series. Witwer recently spoke to IGN about the possibility of a third game in The Force Unleashed series as well as if he had any interest in a role in J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Episode VII.
When asked if he would ever see a third The Force Unleashed:
I would certainly be open to it. The thing is, right now, Lucasfilm needs to concentrate on this little thing called Star Wars: Episode VII. If I’m them, that’s where my focus goes right now, and it has to. It’s the most important thing they have coming up in the future. The Clone Wars is already successful. Now Disney has to prove themselves with the ownership of the franchise. Kathleen Kennedy needs to shepherd that into some far-reaching stuff. In terms of cold, business, financial matters, The Force Unleashed series is extraordinarily viable. It did very, very well. We also have that third part of the story that Haden Blackman and I have talked about that’s really wonderful. I think that you could see us round back to it and finish it up, but it would obviously be for the next generation of console systems, certainly not this one. And it would have to be after Episode VII. It just has to be that way. Lucasfilm is the kind of company that puts all of its resources behind the project they’re working on at the time. So, really, that’s where I’d put my resources if I were Lucasfilm.
On just how much he knows about Star Wars: Episode VII:
You know, a little bit. I knew that there was another Star Wars movie coming maybe eight months before everyone else did, but what I didn’t know was that it was Episode VII… There have been a lot of surprises, and then also, again, information finds itself my way because I’m under NDA of the company. It’s funny, because there was an audition for a very important role in an upcoming Clone Wars season, and I was suggesting some friends of mine read for the role — and I was also reading for the role. So a friend of mine came in, and they’re like, “Okay, get ready to read this.” They kind of just threw him a script, and he was like, “Wait, I didn’t know that I was reading for this character!” It was a well-known character. And they said, “Didn’t Sam tell you?” This is my best friend, and he said, “No, he didn’t.” I was like, “Well of course I didn’t tell him!” [Laughs] “That’s your job, Dave Filoni! You’re Lucasfilm, dammit! I’ll send actors your way, but I’m not going to tell them why. That’s your job.” So because of that, information does sometimes find its way to me, and people know that it’s not going to go any further — under penalty of death.
When asked if he would be interested in appearing in Star Wars: Episode VII:
I would kill for the opportunity to just be in the room and audition, honestly. I really feel like, in a weird way, I’ve put my time in and I’m ready for that type of opportunity. I’ve portrayed a lot of Star Wars characters, and they’ve been very different from each other. It wasn’t just me being a fan and feeling like, “Okay, I’m ready to do this role!” No, that wasn’t good enough. I had to go and watch 1940s movies and Casablanca and Double Indemnity and The Killing and all this stuff that George Lucas would have watched when he was younger. You know, even the 1930s serials like Flash Gordon. It’s all stuff where Star Wars came from — the Kurosawa films, all these things. All of that research informed how I approached these roles, and fans seem to think that it feels right. If it does, it’s because I feel like I’ve made an effort to try to understand George Lucas and where this stuff comes from. I wouldn’t feel comfortable just shooting from the hip because Star Wars is too important to me, so I did my homework. I feel like if J.J. Abrams was like, “Yeah, let’s call in Sam Witwer for an audition,” I’d feel like I could do a pretty good job in that audition room, because I think I understand this stuff. I think I know how you’d perform it, whether it’s a big bad evil guy or one of the protagonists. So that’s my personal opinion. [Laughs] I don’t know if that holds any weight in terms of the people that are in the room right now, but yeah. I feel that I could do a decent job with it.
Honestly, if anyone deserves a role in one of the upcoming Star Wars films, it’s Sam Witwer. Hopefully the actor gets a shot at a role in one of the upcoming films.
Source: IGN