Vinny Thomas, the comedian and actor who brought theStar Wars Rebelsanimated character Jai Kell to life inAhsoka, has revealed his most embarrassing, and hilarious,Star Warsouttake. WithAhsokaacting as a spiritual successor toRebels, there were several characters who were lifted directly from thisanimatedStar WarsTV show. Thomas' Jai Kell was one of them, acting alongside Clancy Brown’s Ryder Azadi during their brief scene on Lothal inAhsokaepisode 1. For Thomas, however, stepping into theStar Warsgalaxy was a bit harder than anticipated.
Thomas revealed toPolygonthat he had quite an embarrassing moment on the set ofAhsokaregarding improv. When asked to improvise a line during his scene,Thomas uttered, “How on Earth?” before he could stop it. “A second afterwards my eyes went huge,” Thomas said, “and I stopped and Dave was like, ‘Can we cut for a second?’ He comes up and he is like, ‘Maybe don’t say Earth. You know, galaxy far, far away.'” While Thomas was sitting in his embarrassment, his fellow scene partner Brown was apparently “beside himself” cracking up at the whole thing.
So I get on the [Ahsoka] set and it’s Dave Filoni directing it, and I love Dave Filoni. Ever since I was a kid, I was watchingClone Warsand just a ton of his work. Huge fan of Dave Filoni. Oh, and Clancy Brown was there, too, who voices Mr. Krabs. So I’m there with titans, icons of the genre. And I had improvised a little in my audition. At one point, Dave’s like, “Hey, how about you improvise a little line here?” He was like, ”You improvise, right?” And I was like, “Deadass. Of course I improvise. Don’t ever ask me that. Of course I improvise.”I was so nervous, and the line I improvised was: “How on Earth?”
Which, of course, cannot work. And I didn’t even realize it at first, but “How on Earth?” came out of my mouth, and a second afterwards my eyes went huge and I stopped and Dave was like, “Can we cut for a second?”He comes up and he is like, “Maybe don’t say Earth. You know, galaxy far, far away.”And Clancy’s cracking up. He’s, like, beside himself. I’m humiliated because I’ve never done anything like this. It’s like 40-foot-tall blue screens. You have to wear cloaks when you walk out of your trailer because nerds are flying drones over the set to try to see who’s there. Everyone had a codename.
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It’s understandable to think about why Thomas would say that, especially considering how nervous he must have been on such a high-profile set, but it’s certainly hilarious to think about the word “earth” being uttered inStar Wars. BecauseStar Warsdoes take place in a galaxy far, far away, as Filoni pointed out to Thomas, the franchise does have to stick to these rules and bounds for all of its properties. There are certain things that can be said and others that cannot, becausethe illusion of this galaxy being a real, separate thing has to remain suspended.
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I can not only understand Thomas’ struggle with staying in a constantStar Warsmentality, but I can relate to it entirely. During my time working at theimmersiveStar Wars: Galactic Starcruiserexperienceprior to its closure at the Walt Disney World Resort, I often experienced in real-time the difficulty of remembering what things were and weren’t allowed to be said in theStar Warsgalaxy. I would often have to find very unique and creative ways to tell our passengers how to do things without breaking the illusion, including navigating them around Disney Parks.
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Even more basic words, like “register” and “receipt,” weren’t options, andthat could make things very difficult when you’re on your own and improvising. I imagine it’s the very same whenStar Warsis actively being filmed, though at least there, actors like Thomas have a chance to get another go at it. Being in the unique position I was in before, where I couldn’t simply undo something I had already said to someone, I definitely pity Thomas' embarrassing story from the set ofAhsoka- as hilarious, and relatable, as it truly is.
