Barriss
Offee
is
a
rare
character
for
Star
Wars.
Not
just
because
she
was
a
Jedi
so
horrified
by
the
part
the
Order
had
to
play
in
the
Clone
War
that
she
took
extreme
action
to
try
and
stop
it,
but
simply
because
the
next
step
of
her
story
was
left
untold
for
over
a
decade.
Now,
at
long
last,
it’s
time
to
tell
it,
and
the
woman
behind
her
is
just
as
excited
as
you
are
to
see
what’s
next.
Meredith Salenger, who voiced Barriss throughout her appearances in The Clone Wars—where we saw her go from the reserved, but forceful padawan of Luminara Unduli, to one of Ahsoka Tano’s closest friends, to the architect of a shocking attack on the Jedi Temple—has waited as long as fans have for what is about to pass. It’s been 11 years since Barriss’ last appearance in the fifth season of Clone Wars, where, after the Order had ostracized Ahsoka for a purported role in staging an anti-war bombing on the Jedi Temple, Barriss revealed herself as the bomber, fierily condemning the dark path the Jedi and Republic alike were taking as the war drove on.
“I have been in love with the character of Barriss for... I mean, it was years ago. It feels like forever ago. I’m thrilled, of course,” Salenger recently told io9 over Zoom about waiting for her return to Star Wars. “Every time I saw something great happen with Ahsoka, I was like, ‘Barriss is her best friend, is she coming back?’ I know she betrays Ahsoka, but... they were best friends! One day Dave [Filoni, Clone Wars producer and Lucasfilm’s Chief Creative Officer] called me and told me [she was coming back], and I was very excited. I think fans are excited, too, because everyone’s always like, ‘What happened to Barriss?’ So, we’ll see...” Salenger’s love for the character, as well as fandom’s embrace of Barriss, has persisted ever since the series came to an end.
“I loved the show. I loved The Clone Wars, I loved Rebels, I loved literally everything Dave Filoni has created,” Salenger added. “I’ve been a fan of, obsessed with [Barriss]... so, just like the fans, I too am wondering what happened to her. I have been to a few of the Cons and things, and the fans are asking what happens to her and actually, Ashley [Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka in Clone Wars and Rebels] and I are still friends. We need to get the band back together! So for me, it’s been really exciting.”
While it’s been years for us and Salenger alike, Tales of the Empire—Lucasfilm’s next animated anthology series premiering on Disney+ this weekend for the studio’s annual Star Wars Day celebrations—will pick up almost exactly where we left Barriss, imprisoned by the Republic and confronted with a terrible choice in the name of survival, as it transforms into the Galactic Empire. But even before that dilemma, Salenger has had plenty of time to sit with the choices Barriss made in at the climax of Clone Wars’ original run.
Image: Lucasfilm
“In
a
way,
we’re
sort
of
similar
in
how
we
want
to
follow
the
rules—we
have
a
really
strong
moral
compass.
What
she
does
at
the
end
[of
Clone
Wars
season
5],
the
bombing
of
the
Jedi
temple—I
mean,
personally,
I
don’t
think
I
would
have
gone
that
far.
Her
desperate
need,
her
morality,
is
just
so
strong,”
Salenger
said
of
Barriss’
headspace,
coming
out
of
her
trial
and
into
the
early
days
of
her
punishment.
“She’s
almost
like
a
Jedi
extremist.
She’s
been
trained
in
peacekeeping,
and
all
the
things
the
Jedi
stand
for,
and
I
think
she’s
really
misguided.
She
got
kind
of
confused
by
things
at
the
end—she
wanted
her
position
so
strongly
to
be
known,
that
she
went
about
it
the
wrong
way.
She
knows
she
did.
But
it
was
almost
like,
‘I
need
this
outcome
to
happen,
by
whatever
means
necessary,
to
the
crux
of
what
a
Jedi
is.’
I
think
that
just
drove
her
mad
a
little.”
It’s in this volatile headspace that we meet Barriss in Tales of the Empire, when she is offered a chance to join the new order in the form of the Imperial Inquisitorius. “My thoughts truly align with Barriss in that moment of like, ‘What has happened here?’ This is not how it should be,” Salenger teased of Barriss’ early reactions in Tales to the fall of the Republic. “She’s in jail, she’s been jailed by the Jedi Council. Who knows how long she’s been there? But for her to see what is happening through Order 66, I think there’s a relief she is not out there, that she’s alive. But also she thinks, ‘this is wrong.’ I think it’s the violence that is so strayed from who the Jedi are—the violence that says, ‘it can’t be like this.’ She used violence to combat the violence, and now she’s seeing more of it, and she’s incredibly conflicted.”
“Personally—and this is a separate thing from [Tales]—I think there’s guilt. And when the Fourth Sister comes to offer her a way out of imprisonment, it’s like a curiosity of what’s going to happen, and how does Barriss feel about this,” Salenger concluded. “But also, this is the only way to survive. And it’s incredibly conflicting [for her].”
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire begins streaming on Disney+ May 4.
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