Star Wars loves nothing more than understanding a villain. Part of the reason why the greatest evils of the franchise are also some of his most compelling characters, because he likes to understand in depth why these characters are the way they are. The time has come for Morgan Elsbeth’s turn, and for us and the actress behind her to lift the veil on this capricious affair. daughter of Dathomir.
Although we saw Morgan meet his untimely end at the climax of Ahsokawe’ll finally get to see more of what makes her tick this coming weekend when Star Wars the day brings Tales of the Empire on Disney+. The new six-part anthology series looks at two tales of survival in the Imperial era: including, of course, Inosanto’s return to Morgan Elsbeth, as we see his journey from Nightsister to Magistrate – and Thrawn’s right hand man. To learn more about how she prepared to return to the galaxy far, far away, io9 spoke with Inosanto over Zoom to learn more about Tales of the Empire. Check it out in full below!
James Whitbrook, io9: Morgan is well established in live action Star Wars. What surprised you about being able to visit him now in the kingdom of Star Wars animation?
Diana Lee Inosanto: For me, these are the details that confirm that I finally truly understand his past, especially since Dathomir and what happened during that time. I love that we see his love for people. I think people have been accustomed, in live-action, to seeing this more villainous approach (from Morgan), his own agenda. But I love that we can go back and see what her people meant to her: her love for her mother, her love for her fellow Nightsisters, and that she was, always, in her own way, unique.
As dark as it is, you understand why she had to become a survivor, and that every time, every moment, she always thinks of her people, her roots and her heritage – that’s what I find fascinating about Morgan.
io9: We can see his history with the Nightsisters here – how much of that history as we saw it in Clone Wars And Rebels Were you aware of this particular side of Morgan’s character when you started adopting him?
Inosanto: For me, it was a bit… almost like an IV drip! (Laughs.) When I auditioned, I really didn’t know what I was getting into, to be honest with you. When I met Dave (Filoni, chief creative officer of Lucasfilm and co-creator of The Mandalorian), that’s when I started learning. “Oh, it’s a Night Sister? ” I understood even during the audition that this was a conquering woman and that she was definitely resilient… and somewhat intimidating, in her later evolution. But I think it was due to the fact that she had to survive and was misunderstood.
The people I really leaned on and their work… there was Timothy Zahn, with all his books – because I thought there must be something she had in common with the people around Thrawn. The second important person I relied on was E. Anne Convery (writer of Clone Wars: Tales of Light and Dark anthology), where she writes about the Nightsisters in her short story “Bug”. This helped me a lot to understand her better. I didn’t even know if Morgan, at the time, was there to see what was happening to his people. I just had to find out what the culture and heritage was that she was a part of. And it’s going to be interesting because (in Tales) we’re going to learn about all these other clans that were present on Dathomir as well.
io9: Part of what has defined Morgan so much to people is the physicality that you imbued him with. What was it like for you to move away from that side of her a bit now that you’re representing her primarily through your voice?
Inosanto: I remember watching behind the scenes (of The Mandalorian), of Pedro (Pascal) doing the voice of Mando, and I saw his physique there. For me, when I’m in this recording booth, it’s always the same thing: I’m always locked in my acting bubble, and I will do everything, everything. I will slow my breathing, I will jump up and down, I will move, I will grunt, so that everything goes well!
But my hat goes off to the Lucasfilm animation team: I met them several weeks ago and was amazed by the martial arts (exhibited in the animation). Steward Lee (Lucasfilm animation director), who ironically met my godfather (famous martial artist Bruce Lee) when he was a kid, really loves martial arts. Several members of the team who were just on the fight scenes during Tales only had an understanding of martial arts, and they studied videos of me on YouTube, as well as my fight scenes in Mandalorian And Ahsoka– and there are a few tributes to my godfather and my father. I think it’s an incredible compliment when people come up to me after watching the trailer alone, with the fight scenes, and say, “Did you do mocap?” They think it’s actually me – that’s an idea of how sophisticated animation is.
io9: In Tales we see Morgan, as his story progresses, meeting Thrawn for the first time. Having established their relationship in Ahsokawhat was it like playing that moment for you?
Inosanto: I love this scene with Thrawn, especially because in a way, they’re both considered outsiders in the Empire, right? They are two very intelligent people who have their specific goals.
Lars (Mikkelsen) does an incredible job as Thrawn, so it’s very easy to suddenly disappear into space with him. When I recorded, I wasn’t with Lars, but I had spent enough time with him on Ahsoka to know and hear his voice in my head – and it came out, I feel it beautifully, in that moment, with him and the whole animation team at Lucasfilm, how they put everything together so quickly and so easily.
io9: Ahsoka gave us Morgan’s untimely end, and now Tales took us back to parts of her life before we met her The Mandalorian. What side of Morgan do you think hasn’t been explored yet that you would like to see in the future?
Inosanto: If there was a chance to see her speak somewhere in the Star Wars timeline… I always like playing characters that are a little bit vulnerable, and maybe seeing them lie on a trail to hell, whatever kind of people they become. This is why I loved coming back particularly to the first episode (from Tales), because now you know where her vulnerability comes from, her pain and how she lost her people. It’s a reflection of her connection to her roots, and that’s really what motivates her. Sometimes they say the most struggling people do what they do because they come from a place of fear and pain – we really see a survivor (in Morgan).
And you know, I like though, in a way, he’s a character that just not forget. She has this whole revenge side which is like… Wow. (Laughs.) There is so much more to explore about this woman. There are a lot of different nuances to her.
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire begins streaming on Disney+ on May 4.
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