After years of waiting and theorizing, Star Wars fans are finally witnessing what Obi-Wan was doing on Tatooine those nineteen years he watched over Luke from afar in Obi-Wan Kenobi. The six-episode mini-series seemed to race by like the Millennium Falcon jumping into hyperspace, yet recent news gives a new hope to a second season. Ewan McGregor is exceptional in this role, clearly making it one of the best performances in the entire franchise. Thankfully with such an expansive franchise as Star Wars, there are plenty of other noteworthy performances, including these solely-voiceover performances from different films and tv shows.
Corey Burton - Cad Bane
Although the franchise has largely focused on the Skywalkers, and in turn the Jedi, some of the best villains are not part of the Empire or the Sith, such as Cad Bane. The ruthless bounty hunter often crossed paths with Obi-Wan or Ahsoka as the antagonist of several great episodes of The Clone Wars. Surprisingly, though he made the jump to live-action earlier this year in The Book of Boba Fett – meeting his end at the hands of his old apprentice, Boba Fett.
He is voiced by Corey Burton, who also voiced Count Dooku and Ziro the Hutt in The Clone Wars. While the character is best recognized by the distinct tone his voice is given through editing, the foundation Burton laid as the voice actor was what made it and the character so strong and intimidating.
Nika Futterman - Asajj Ventress
Another fantastic villain from The Clone Wars is Asaaj Ventress. She starts out as the dutiful assassin for Count Dooku, but as the war progresses she comes to understand who she is and where she comes from, and in doing so she evolves into a more heroic figure. Following the end of the series, her final tale was told in the book Dark Disciple, in which she sacrificed herself to save her love, Quinlan Vos’s life.
Nika Futterman voices Asaaj, giving the character her seductive timbre and distinguishing vocal quality, easily establishing Asaaj as one of the most recognizable characters from the series. Since her last appearance was during the season five finale, fans would still love to see her return sometime with Futterman voicing her again.
Dee Bradley Baker - Clone Troopers
When watching any of the Star Wars animated shows, viewers are going to hear one voice repeatedly and that would be Dee Bradley Baker as he voices all the Clone Troopers. While Temura Morrison would likely take on any of the roles in live-action – as he did in a surprise cameo in episode two of Obi-Wan Kenobi – Baker would fill that role on the animated side.
That means he’s been in The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and likely soon again in Tales of the Jedi. The Bad Batch is a special playing ground for Baker as he voices five of the six main characters in it, each with their own unique tone, timbre, and speech patterns.
James Arnold Taylor - Obi-Wan Kenobi
While Ewan McGregor has seemingly reclaimed the title of the best Obi-Wan with his stellar work in Obi-Wan Kenobi, for a time many fans attributed that role to Obi-Wan from The Clone Wars. That’s because the series just had more opportunities to showcase how talented, powerful, and cheekily clever he is.
This is all made possible by the voice talents of James Arnold Taylor who brings a special kind of playfulness and wisdom to the role. He naturally had to base his version of the character on both Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness’s, which could be daunting, yet he was able to make Obi-Wan even more popular.
Sam Witwer - Darth Maul
Although Episode I: The Phantom Menace was rightfully maligned, it still introduced Darth Maul - a character who seemingly died, but went on to achieve much greater things on the animated side of Star Wars. He unexpectedly returned in season four of The Clone Wars, rising from the dark depths of obscurity to become one of Star Wars’ greatest villains of all time.
Sam Witwer gave Maul his incredibly haunting voice in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and even Solo: A Star Wars Story – replacing Peter Serafinowicz who spoke his three lines in The Phantom Menace. Particularly in Rebels, Witwer excels at showcasing Maul’s rage and sadness in every line.
Lars Mikkelsen - Grand Admiral Thrawn
Rebels shocked many longtime Star Wars fans by dipping back into the Legends canon to find a new villain when in season three, Grand Admiral Thrawn was introduced. He was voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, brother to Mads Mikkelsen who played Galen Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Lars helps make Thrawn another one of the best villains in the franchise by giving him a calculated persona and a piercing voice.
Thrawn is definitely a character that many Rebels fans want to see in live-action with Lars playing him. Those hopes might be coming to fruition soon, though not entirely, as it is theorized that Jude Law could be playing Thrawn in Skeleton Crew.
Ashley Eckstein - Ahsoka
Although Luke Skywalker is the most renowned Jedi in the franchise and Darth Vader is arguably the most iconic villain in all pop culture, Ahsoka Tano could rival both in popularity among Star Wars fans. However, it was not always that way. She was an original creation for The Clone Wars, and at first, she wasn’t very well-liked, but she eventually stole fans’ hearts to become one of their favorites.
Ashley Eckstein is equally beloved among fans for voicing Ahsoka, first as the bold and naïve padawan in The Clone Wars and then the mature and wise warrior in Rebels. Especially in the latter, Eckstein was able to give her own character a fresh perspective, and her line “I am no Jedi,” remains one of the franchise’s best. Thankfully, fans will get plenty more of Ahsoka with Tales of the Jedi, which will partly focus on her, and Ahsoka next year.
Frank Oz - Yoda
When Luke was in need of a new teacher, he was sent to Dagobah in search of a long-lost Jedi master, and thus, the world was gifted the enigmatic genius that is Yoda, voiced by Frank Oz. He is rightfully recognized for his distinct speech pattern, which to some incredible lines across the numerous films and tv shows he starred in.
Frank Oz also manned the puppet in Episode IV: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, before stepping down to just voice the character in the prequel trilogy. While the overuse of CGI throughout those films is still a touchy subject to some fans, Oz was happy to help George fulfill his vision, and his work as Yoda then is still utterly fantastic.
Matt Lanter - Anakin Skywalker
With much respect to Hayden Christensen, many fans have viewed Matt Lanter’s Anakin Skywalker from The Clone Wars as the definitive version of the character. Over the seven seasons, he was able to make Anakin a far more grounded and well-rounded character, which only helps make his eventual fall to the dark side even more tragic.
In particular, he adds a sense of wisdom and maturity to the already existing arrogance and intense emotionality of Christiansen’s performance. Interestingly, this is not Matt Lanter’s only role in a Star Wars property as he was also brought in briefly to play a New Republic soldier in an episode of The Mandalorian.
James Earl Jones - Darth Vader
Of course, there might not be a voice in all of pop culture more iconic than James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. The voice is synonymous with power and fear, the strength of the dark side. Jones’ performance and time in the franchise will be remembered for as long as Star Wars is part of pop culture, just like so many of these incredible lines by Darth Vader.
Unfortunately, at 91 years old, James Earl Jones's voice, while still iconic and impressive, is not what it used to be. In fact, for Obi-Wan Kenobi, while he is credited alongside Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, they actually used Respeecher, voice cloning software, for his line.