Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Cast and Characters

Cast and Characters

• Samuel Witwer as Starkiller — The child of two Jedi, Starkiller becomes Darth Vader's secret apprentice and is dispatched by his master to kill the Jedi who survived Palpatine's Jedi purge. Although acting as a villain, Starkiller is "really just damaged kid." Developers decided not to give Starkiller a name in the game, but the novelization gives his name as Galen Marek. Although Starkiller starts as Vader's apprentice, a focus of the game is to allow the character to evolve into "something more heroic, something greater." Audio director David Collins saw a resemblance between Starkiller concept art and his friend, Witwer; Collins asked for Witwer's headshot and an audition reel, and a few weeks later Witwer sat for a 45-minute audition. Witwer secured the role by demonstrating to developers his deep understanding of the character; in portraying Starkiller, Witwer brought many new ideas about the character and imbued him with a sense of humanity. Developers tried not to make Starkiller so evil that players would have difficulty connecting to him. The Force Unleashed’s character's name is an homage to "Luke Starkiller," the original name of the character that eventually became Luke Skywalker.
• Matt Sloan as Darth Vader — Starkiller's master, who discovers Starkiller as a child and trains him. In addition to dispatching Starkiller to kill the remaining Jedi, Vader also presents plans to unite with Starkiller to overthrow the Emperor, although there are "twists and turns" in this scheme. The events depicted in The Force Unleashed are pivotal to Darth Vader's history and development.
• Nathalie Cox as Juno Eclipse — Rogue Shadow’s pilot and Starkiller's love interest. Eclipse was not originally part of the game; early concepts had the apprentice as an older character who develops a connection with a young Princess Leia. Star Wars creator George Lucas, uncomfortable with this idea, encouraged the developers to create a love interest. The apprentice, who has had limited interaction with women when the game begins, does not at first know how to act around her. Her introduction early in the game allows the relationship with Starkiller to develop, and her inclusion helps "recapture that rich ensemble feel of the original Star Wars". According to Sean Williams, who wrote the novelization, the romantic storyline is the key to The Force Unleashed. The name "Juno Eclipse" was originally proposed as a name for the character eventually called "Asajj Ventress" — it was rejected for Ventress as insufficiently villainous. The Force Unleashed project lead Haden Blackman brought the name back for the mythic quality of the name "Juno" and the duality suggested by an "eclipse." Cox, in addition to strongly resembling the character's concept art, had "integrity and poise" appropriate to Juno Eclipse that helped the actor secure the role.
• Cully Fredricksen as General Rahm Kota — A Jedi Master who provides Starkiller with additional insight into the Force. Developers realized early that Starkiller would require insight into the Force from someone other than Darth Vader; after rejecting the idea of this coming from the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn or some version of Darth Plagueis, they decided to fill this role with one of Starkiller's Jedi opponents. The character was conceived as a "tough-as-nails" contrast to Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Senior concept artist Amy Beth Christianson drew upon samurai influences for Kota's appearance. The character changed little after being conceived; Fredricksen's own traits made the character tougher. Fredricksen was the first actor cast for the project.
• Adrienne Wilkinson as Maris Brood — A Zabrak survivor of the Jedi Purge and Shaak Ti's apprentice. The character was originally conceived to become a pirate captain, and Christianson's early art included Brood's lightsaber tonfas. Wilkinson brought strength to her performance, leading to an expansion of the role with more dialogue.
• David W. Collins as PROXY — Starkiller's droid sidekick. Collins said PROXY has C-3PO's innocence but also is "really dangerous." The companion trade paperback describes the conflict between PROXY's primary programming to kill Starkiller and its self-imposed desire to help him; PROXY is eager to please Starkiller, but does not know how dangerous it can be or that there is a conflict between its programming and Starkiller's wishes. Trying to avoid having PROXY's dialogue become too reminiscent of either C-3PO or the villainous HK-47 of Knights of the Old Republic, developers focused on PROXY's friendly naïvety.
• Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa — The Emmy Award-winning Smits voices the character he played in the Star Wars prequels: a Galactic Senator from Alderaan and Leia Organa's adoptive father.

Other performances came from Susan Eisenberg as Shaak Ti and Catherine Taber as Princess Leia Organa. In addition to voicing Starkiller, Witwer also provided the voice of Emperor Palpatine.