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Few characters are as connected to the overarching Star Wars mythos as The Son from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. As someone who embodies the depth of the Dark Side of the Force, it took Sam Witwer more than a few tries to find the voice for the character. He ended up drawing inspiration from every Sith we had seen up to then and mixing them together to create The Son’s unique voice.

By the time he was cast as The Son in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Sam Witwer was already experienced with the Star Wars franchise. He had voiced Starkiller in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This proved to be something of a stumbling block for him, though, as he found himself defaulting to Starkiller during the first recording session. “And I said,” Witwer said during a panel at Star Wars Celebration 2025. “Are we afraid that The Son is sounding too much like Starkiller?”

The conversation in question was with Dave Filoni, the man behind the Star Wars animated shows from The Clone Wars through to The Bad Batch. Filoni, possibly to help calm Sam Witwer’s nerves, said, “Oh yeah. No, you do sound like Starkiller, but you got, you got to remember that Starkiller had a connection to the Dark Side of the Force and you are the Dark Side of the Force, so it is okay if they sound alike.”

However, that comment from Dave Filoni was the spark of inspiration for Witwer. “When he said that, I was like, ‘Wait a second. Wait a second.’ That idea is brilliant, but it only makes sense if, in The Son’s voice, you hear all of the Dark Side characters from Star Wars.”

He gave an example, using a line from the show. “If the line is ‘Sister, so I see you brought a friend.’ you have to make ‘Sister’ a Vader line and you have to say ‘friend’ like Palpatine. You know, he’s all of the villains. He’s all of them. So, when I came back in the next episode and I started doing that, Dave’s like, he stops the recording and he’s like, ‘Hey, Sam. I think I see what you’re doing.’”

Sam Witwer thought Filoni would want him to reign in this new technique, but apparently, he went Kylo Ren and asked for more. “’No, no, no. Do it more. That’s how we’re gonna get away with it. Do it more, more, more, and more.'”

Because letting an actor play around with their tricks and tools will almost always lead to a better, more memorable performance in the long run.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.