We’re deep into a new era for Star Wars storytelling, and as the technology allows for live action series to proliferate and expand into a grand tapestry of plot and adventure alongside the animated shows, so the options to delve into the past and pull out notable characters becomes more and more likely. We’ve already had plenty pulled from the 1991 classic Heir to the Empire; the Noghri appeared in Star Wars Rebels, as did Grand Admiral Thrawn who arrived in Ahsoka, while Mount Tantiss was seen in The Bad Batch the same year that Captain Pellaeon arrived in season 3 of The Mandalorian. Of course, there is another hugely popular character from the Zahn Trilogy – during the 90’s, only Darth Vader and Boba Fett were more popular than her – and at last weekends Fan Expo San Francisco, the wonderful Vanessa Marshall brought up the character of Mara Jade and made it very clear that she’d like to see a future for the character in modern Star Wars storytelling.
“I would love to play Mara Jade. Can you call Dave Filoni and just let him know that I’d love to play Mara Jade? I think we would all just like to be in live-action in some way. We haven’t had the opportunity to do it yet. But my background is in live-action.”
While she’ll always be the voice of Hera Syndulla, the live action role is of course occupied by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, so how cool would it be for Vanessa and her fellow Star Wars voice legends to appear not in token blink-and-you’ll-miss them cameos but in new roles. Let us know who you’d like to see from the Star Wars vocal world onscreen in live action and with what roles on Fantha Tracks socials, and remember you can hear Vanessa on every episode of every show on Fantha Tracks Radio.
