RC: You mentioned how Ezra comes in at the beginning and shakes things up. I found Ezra and Sabine’s relationship pretty interesting where it kind of started with this “will they/won’t they” trope, but it ended up becoming a brotherly/sisterly relationship, just sibling love between them, especially in their final moments where Sabine helps Ezra sneak out of the base to help save the day and then she decides to go out and search for him. Can you give us your own thoughts on how Sabine views Ezra and how you and Taylor accomplished their relationship?
TS: I think its really interesting that since Rebels has ended, I get more questions and comments about, you know, “Were Ezra and Sabine in love?” and “Do you wish they got together?” It’s an overriding theme I guess of people feeling this unresolved thing. I guess some people really wanted that to happen and I totally see where people are coming from. I agree with you that in Season 1 it definitely was a will they/won’t they, what’s the deal? There’s some tension, but I think over the course of our show, and I talked to Dave about this on many occasions, I really appreciate his perspective on it which is why must – just because they’re male and female and similar in age, why must it turn into a romantic relationship? Can we not just portray a really intimate, loving, supportive relationship that just happens to be platonic? Does it have to turn into a romance?
I really appreciate that it doesn’t have to be a lovey dovey thing where they fall in love and then they’re together. There’s plenty of those stories and I feel there are fewer stories where we get to see these healthy, loving platonic relationships. I have those in my own life where I have platonic relationships that are very close and very strong bonds with guys that there are absolutely no romantic part of the equation. I actually personally love that we get to see these two young people be so close and yet it doesn’t have to be this boyfriend/girlfriend lovey dovey situation. I know some people are disappointed it never came to fruition, but I think there’s not enough of those platonic relationships represented in television and film. I’m glad to be part of that. It is possible and doesn’t have to be romantic.
As far as Taylor and I, I would say this for all of them, for Freddie, Vanessa, Steve, everyone, I think our characters relationships so closely mirror our own relationships with each other. I don’t know if its just really, really good casting or life imitating art or art imitating life. I’ve said this before, but Freddie is this big brother, the guy we look to, our fearless leader in some ways and Vanessa really is the most loving, thoughtful, maternal one that’s always looking out for us and Steve is the jokester that’s making us laugh and being silly, this loveable, older, crazy, cookey dude. I think my relationship with Taylor is so, so similar to Sabine and Ezra in that I’m always giving him a hard time and he’s just taking it and being a good sport as I tease him. It was sort of easy. I feel we all fell into our roles within our space family. It didn’t take a lot of work. It happened very organically and that is how we interact with each other so in that way it doesn’t feel like work at all.
RC: Speaking of Ezra, and you mentioned it before how you hope to see Sabine and play her again, the final moments do show Sabine decide to travel the galaxy to find Ezra and she’s got Ahsoka in toe with her. What do you think of the potential team-up of Sabine and Ahsoka and do you think we’ll see them again in Star Wars: Resistance or the comics or wherever?
TS: Well, as an audience member I’m super excited. As an audience member and an actor, I’m all in for this Sabine/Ahsoka two-hander, this female led story where two kick-ass women are going to save the dude in distress. I am very excited at the notion of that being a show or a film or who knows. I think that people – I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say – but I think people are expecting that story to be told soon. I don’t want people to be disappointed, but I hope that happens and comes to fruition. I would absolutely love, love, love to play Sabine in any way, whether its animated or live-action, but I don’t want people to think the very next show will feature Sabine and Ahsoka on a quest through the galaxy to save Ezra. If it does happen, if it will, keep your fingers crossed, I have my fingers crossed, but I don’t think people should hold their breath necessarily. But anyone who wants to see that, please put it out to the ether and think positive thoughts about getting to see Sabine and Ahsoka on screen again, whether it’s the small screen or big screen!
RC: If we could just deviate from Star Wars for a moment, my wife and I are huge fans of The Good Place! What kind of difference do you see between voicing a character like Sabine and playing a live action character like Vicky because they’re such different characters and completely different mediums too. What’s the challenge in Sabine and Vicky?
TS: I mean, I’m by and large an on-camera actor. Getting this gig as Sabine was entering new territory for me and I feel so fortunate that I got to work with my castmates who are so, so incredibly talented voice actors. Getting to watch what Steve Blum does or Dee Bradley Baker, it’s so humbling to watch the entire cast, from the core cast to the guest actors, do what they do. Even though I was kind of new to voice acting, I feel I scored big time that I was surrounded by incredibly skilled voice actors. I basically tried to glean as much as I could from them since it was – it’s very different, the skillset you need to do your job as a voice actor versus an on-camera actor.
As far as characters go, Vicky is a character that I feel like so, so lucky to get to play, but she’s certainly not a character I normally get to play on camera. It’s such a gift to get to play – to even be on that show actually. As an audience member, I love that show so much. I think its one of the smartest, funniest, best written, most interesting shows I’ve ever seen. The fact I get to be on it is mind-blowing still. But Vicky is a nutcase! She’s an egomaniac, totally off the walls, cookey. Its super fun and definitely different than any other role I’ve gotten to play.
Sabine is, I’d like to think I’m like Sabine, but she’s definitely way cooler than me and she’s able to do things I’m definitely not able to do! Like I would say a line as Sabine and it would be more like Tiya saying a line, and Dave very diplomatically would sort of push his little buttons, come to the other side of the booth and say “Yeah, that was great, but could you do it a bit cooler?” Like yeah, Sabine is significantly cooler than I am. But Vicky is the opposite of Sabine in a really fun, delightful way for me to play. She’s unapologetic and on a total power trip and desperate for attention. She’s very fun and hopefully I have very little in common with Vicky!
RC: Talking about Sabine’s cool factor, one of the things about Sabine that made her seem like a cool character is her constant change in style, whether its her hair style or painting on her armour. Did you have any input into her physical changes? What did you think of her constant changing?
TS: I love it. I would get questions sometimes of why she is always changing her look and my answer to that is A) she’s an artist and that is part of her aesthetic sense and she’s always trying to keep it fresh and new and change it up. Secondly, people might forget that she’s also a teenager. I used to dye my hair as a teenager, but her hair turned out much better than mine did! I love that’s part of who she is and she’s always changing and pushing the boundaries. I know that can be frustrating to some Sabine cosplayers because there’s never an end to having to update the armour or changing the hair, but hopefully that’s fun for people too! I’m sorry, what was the first part of your question?
RC: Just if you had any input with Dave Filoni on her looks.
TS: Yes! I remember after Season 1 Dave asked me what I thought Sabine’s hair should like in Season 2 and I was so taken aback that he would want my input for that and was so excited and honoured that he would want my opinion. I thought about it and said “This is what it should look like” and he was like “Ok cool, interesting, alright.” And then we saw what our characters would look like for Season 2 and she looked absolutely nothing like what I had said and I was like “Well least he asked, that was nice of him to ask”, but then in Season 3 she looked exactly like what I had envisioned when he asked me and how her hair should look – actually she looked even better than what I had described. Basically Season 3 is what he asked me what I thought she should look like. It ended up happening and Season 3 Sabine is definitely my favourite as far as her look.
RC: Cool! One last question: Sabine hasn’t just appeared in Rebels, but you’ve also gotten a chance to voice her in the Forces of Destiny shorts where she’s seen with characters like Princess Leia and Jyn Erso. What does it mean for you to have Sabine interact with other characters from the Star Wars universe, especially an iconic character like Leia?
TS: Oh man, it’s kind of surreal and I love that that show exists. I think Star Wars is for everyone. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and I think now is really an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan, particularly because there are suddenly so many incredible female heroines within the Star Wars universe. It’s such a cool time, especially for young girls to join the Star Wars fandom and get to look up to Jyn, Rey and obviously Leia, but also Ahsoka and Hera and even Sabine. I think it’s amazing to get to be part of something where we’re celebrating very smart and strong and physical and incredible young female characters that hopefully young girls and boys can look up to. I think it’s just the beginning and there are going to be more and more female characters within the Star Wars universe that are going to be characters young people can aspire to. I feel really honoured that Sabine gets to be one of those.
Thank you very much to Tiya Sircar for taking the time to sit down with us. Let’s hope she’ll be voicing Sabine again sooner than later.
Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Fourth Season will be released on Blu-ray July 31st.
