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Star Wars: Visions star Jordan Fisher wears many hats already, but he can now add Jedi Padawan to his growing list of roles and accomplishments. From Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway to Dancing with the Stars and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, chances are you’ve seen the talented multihyphenate at one point or another, but he can currently be heard (and seen) as Dan on Visions, which fuses Star Wars and anime. Once he got the role, Fisher was pleased to see that his Padawan character resembled him, which is a rare occurrence for voice actors. He was also quite taken with his character’s relationship to his Jedi Master, Tajin Crosser (David Harbour), since it reminded him of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Qui-Gon Jinn’s (Liam Neeson) dynamic.
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“Dan gave me young Obi-Wan vibes a lot, especially his relationship with his master, Tajin Crosser,” Fisher tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s a really beautiful back and forth between the two of them that’s really human-oriented and heart-based that’s nice to explore in the Star Wars space. We haven’t really had that with any big Star Wars characters since Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace. So to see a really healthy master and Padawan relationship in that way was fun to do, especially as a Star Wars nerd.”
With animated characters such as Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) now appearing in live-action Star Wars shows, Fisher can’t help but dream about his future in a galaxy far, far away.
“Dan looks like me already, so that’s an exciting thought,” Fisher says. “There’s so much Star Wars to be tapped into, and there will be for years. We will not, in our lifetime, know the scope of the Star Wars universe. That’s the beauty and the fun of all of it. Same thing for Marvel and DC. We won’t see whatever the end of that is in our lifetime. So I’m excited that there’s going to be plenty of Star Wars opportunities to explore in my lifetime, and I hope that more happens.”
In a recent conversation with THR, Fisher also discusses his first memories of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, as well as his lightsaber preference.
So what’s your earliest Star Wars memory?
I realized earlier today that there are some univeses that I’m a massive fan of where I don’t have an early memory; it just always existed in my life. I definitely was some version of a fan of Star Wars before Phantom Menace came out. I had a lightsaber and I had toys. So at some point in time, I watched a little bit of [Episodes] IV, V and VI, but I definitely went to the movie theater and saw Phantom Menace. So I have a very specific memory of being there. I also remember little things about the snacks that I was eating and how excited I got when Darth Maul and Qui-Gon met for the first time on Tatooine. I remember being like, “His lightsaber is so big!” I just remember freaking out and that being the real genesis of my love for Star Wars. So I guess we can kind of start it at ’99, and the prequel films are really the intro for me. I went back and rewatched IV, V and VI a little bit later, and re-fell in love with everything in elementary school, middle school. So I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since, and when Disney+ announced they were doing [Star Wars: Visions], I was like, “God, that’s going to be really fun.” And then I got the call to do it… (Laughs.) As an anime diehard and a Star Wars fanatic, it ticks all of the boxes.
When you voiced this character, were you able to see any concept art of Dan for inspiration?
Yeah, so I got the concept art before I even stepped into the studio. So I knew what he looked like and I was thrilled to see that he looked a lot like me. That was really cool. But in the booth, when you’re doing an English dub of something, you have a guideline because the Japanese actors have already done what they’re doing and the animation is pretty much 80 percent there already. So you have to fit in the windows and in the pockets for when the character is speaking, and you have to change up your speech pattern and cadences and whatnot to match everything and make sure the energy feels authentic. It was a challenge but a lot of fun.
Were you elated to see that he had the Padawan braid like Obi-Wan and Anakin once had?
100 percent. Dan gave me young Obi-Wan vibes a lot, especially his relationship with his master, Tajin Crosser [David Harbour]. There’s a really beautiful back and forth between the two of them that’s really human-oriented and heart-based that’s nice to explore in the Star Wars space. We haven’t really had that with any big Star Wars characters since Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace. So to see a really healthy master and Padawan relationship in that way was fun to do, especially as a Star Wars nerd. I nerd out about the little things that other people might not.
At the beginning of your episode, “The Elder,” Dan is a Padawan who’s restless and bored of patrolling the galaxy alongside his Jedi master. He desperately wants in on the action. Is there a moment in your career where you could relate to being where you wanted to be, but you still had to be patient for an opportunity? Theater actors, specifically understudies, probably know that feeling very well.
100 percent. It happens a lot in anyone’s career. It doesn’t really matter what you do. Whether it’s a Fortune 500 person or a blue-collar construction worker, you’re always going to hit a point where you feel like you’ve plateaued and you want to elevate again. It’s also normal for anybody like myself who’s an actor, a film producer, a writer or whatever to hit those points and go, “Okay, we’re coasting a little bit right now. I don’t like coasting, and we need to elevate.” I just went through that. I’ve been making some turnover happen in my life to elevate and ascend to the next space. So we meet Dan there, and we recognize pretty quickly during this mission that he’s in a situation that he, technically, on paper, isn’t all the way ready for. Obi-Wan had also experienced that throughout his tenure as a Jedi, whether he was a Padawan, a Master, part of the council or anything along those lines. His whole Jedi career he was thrusted into things that were technically, on paper, more advanced than where he should have been, all the way to his Master dying, him soloing a Sith Lord and then basically adopting a kid and making him a Padawan against the wishes of his council. We get to see a lot of real heart out of Obi-Wan and Dan gives me a lot of those vibes as well. He just seems to me like a kyber crystal-healing, double lightsaber-wielding, future-Templar kind of guy that just needs his lashes right now. And he gets them on this mission. You see a massive wave of maturity in a very short amount of time, which is a testament to how well it was put together and how well it was written, created and directed.
We now live in a world where animated Star Wars characters are routinely crossing over into live action. Have you daydreamed at all about that possibility?
For sure! Absolutely. Dan looks like me already, so that’s an exciting thought. There’s so much Star Wars to be tapped into, and there will be for years. We will not, in our lifetime, know the scope of the Star Wars universe. That’s the beauty and the fun of all of it. Same thing for Marvel and DC. We won’t see whatever the end of that is in our lifetime. So I’m excited that there’s going to be plenty of Star Wars opportunities to explore in my lifetime, and I hope that more happens.
If you had your druthers, would blue still be your preferred lightsaber color?
I would like to imagine that I am pretty balanced in swordsmanship and in the Force. I kind of imagine that I lean a little more towards the Force, and eventually, I would kill a Sith Lord, get that red kyber crystal and heal it. And then I’d turn it into a white lightsaber and become a High Council member. That is my personal Dan trajectory; that’s what I’d like to do. (Laughs.)
You are a man of many talents (e.g., acting, singing, dancing). Do the creative highs of each outlet feel roughly the same, or does each one provide its own unique feeling on their best day?
I am fortunate and grateful that I get to wear a lot of hats. And I am also fortunate and grateful that in everything I do, I get a unique sense of stimulation, artistic fulfillment and business fulfillment. To be honest with you, I love the business side of all of it, almost as much as I do the creative. So I take a lot of pride in that.
Lastly, let’s manifest some dreams. What are you still dreaming about doing in this business?
Whoo! Own and run a remarkably successful film production company. That’s what I would love to accomplish, and I’m working towards that right now.
***
Star Wars: Visions is now streaming on Disney+.
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