Star Wars Rebels Vocal Performance Casts Doubt On Recent Episode VII Villains Report

Posted by Eric on

A few hours ago, we brought you a report from MakingStarWars that presented certain claims about the villains in Star Wars Episode VII. In the report, one of MSW's sources claimed that David Oyelowo, who has been rumored to be playing the Imperial Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels, will play one of the major villains in Episode VII.



I initially thought that this sounded interesting because of the connection that has been reported between Episode VII and Rebels. If Oyelowo is playing the Inquisitor, who we know appears in Rebels, wouldn't it make sense to have him play a similar major villain in the first sequel film and provide an element of continuity across different Star Wars media?



Now, however, I'm not so sure about MSW's report.



As I was checking out the story, I went back to the Star Wars Rebels minute-long trailer and listened to the brief clip of Imperial Agent Kallus contacting the Inquisitor. In the clip, Kallus says (0:53-0:56), "Inquisitor, I have encountered a rebel cell," and the Inquisitor replies (0:56-0:58), "You did well to call."



I compared both of these lines to various clips of David Oyelowo speaking, and I'm now convinced that, contrary to most reports about Oyelowo's Star Wars involvement, he is in fact playing Kallus, not the Inquisitor.



Oyelowo's name originally came up in a story from The Hollywood Reporter about actors who had auditioned for Rebels. The other names in that report were Freddie Prinze Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Taylor Gray, and Steven Jay Blum. All of them were subsequently announced as leads in the series -- except, of course, Oyelowo. THR's reporting was obviously solid there, and I have every confidence that Oyelowo, too, will be in the series.



When you consider the likelihood that Oyelowo is playing Kallus instead of the Inquisitor, one of the core elements of transmedia connective tissue that added credibility to the MSW rumor evaporates.*



I have embedded clips of Kallus and the Inquisitor's brief dialog from the Rebels trailer. Check them out and compare them to Oyelowo's voice. If I were a betting man, I would bet that David Oyelowo is going to be playing Agent Kallus in Star Wars Rebels.











I was just reminded that Lucasfilm has already debunked the rumor about Oyelowo playing the Inquisitor (screenshot via Rebels Report ):