Barriss Offee is a rare character war of stars. Not just because she was a Jedi and was so horrified by the role The Order had to play in the Clone War that she took extreme measures to stop him, but simply because the next step of her story remained untold over a decade. Now it’s finally time to tell it, and the woman behind her is just as excited as you are to see what comes next.
Meredith Salenger, who voiced Barriss during her appearances in The Clone Wars– where we saw her go from the reserved but powerful padawan of Luminara Unduli to one of them Ahsoka Tano’s closest friends, to architect a shocking attack on the Jedi Temple – has waited as long as fans have to see what will happen. It is for 11 years since Barriss’ last appearance in the fifth season of Clone Warswhere, after the Order ostracized Ahsoka for her alleged role in staging an anti-war bombing of the Jedi Temple, Barriss revealed herself as the bomber and the dark path that the Jedi and Republic alike took during the war continued, condemned in the strongest possible terms.
“I’ve been in love with the character of Barriss since… I mean, it’s been years. It feels like it’s been forever. Of course I’m thrilled,” Salenger recently told io9 via Zoom about waiting for her return war of stars. “Every time I saw something great happen to Ahsoka, I thought, ‘Barriss is her best friend, is she coming back?’ I know she’s betraying 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 the fans are excited too, because everyone is always wondering, “What happened to Barriss?” So, we’ll see…” Salenger’s love for the character and the fan base’s sympathy for Barriss have remained undiminished since the end of the series.
“I loved the show. I loved The Clone WarsI loved Rebels“I have literally loved everything Dave Filoni has created,” Salenger added. “I was a fan of it, obsessed with it [Barriss]…so like the fans, I’m wondering what happened to her. I’ve been to a few cons and stuff and fans are asking what’s happening 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 was really exciting.”
Although it has been years for us and Salenger, Tales of the Empire—Lucasfilm’s next animated anthology series will premiere this weekend on Disney+ as part of the studio’s annual yearbook war of stars The celebration of the day will continue almost exactly where we left Barriss, imprisoned by the Republic and faced with a terrible choice in the name of survival as he transforms into the Galactic Empire. But even before this dilemma, Salenger had plenty of time to grapple with the decisions Barriss made at the height of Clone Wars‘Original run.
“In some ways we are similar in how we want to follow the rules – we have a really strong moral compass. What she does in the end [of Clone Wars season 5], the bombing of the Jedi Temple – personally I don’t think I would have gone that far. Her desperate need, her morale is just so strong,” Salenger said of Barriss’ headspace as she left her trial behind and moved into the early days of her punishment. “She’s almost like a Jedi extremist. She was trained in peacekeeping and all the things that the Jedi stand for, and I think she’s really misguided. In the end, she was a little confused – she wanted her position to be known so badly that she went about it the wrong way. She knows she did it. But it was almost like, ‘I need this result, by whatever means, to get to the core of what a Jedi is.’ I think that just drove her a little crazy.”
It is in this volatile headspace that we meet Barriss Tales of the Empire, when she is offered the chance to join the new order in the form of the Imperial Inquisitorius. “My thoughts really agree with Barriss when he asked, ‘What happened here?’ “It shouldn’t be like that,” Salenger teased about Barriss’s first reactions stories until the fall of the Republic. “She is in prison, she was imprisoned by the Jedi Council. Who knows how long she’s been there? But for her to see what’s happening with Order 66, I think she’s relieved that she’s not out there, that she’s alive. But she also thinks, “This is it.” incorrect.’ I think it’s the violence that’s so different from the Jedi – the violence that says, “It can’t be like this.” She used violence to combat violence, and now she’s seeing more of it and it’s incredible conflict-laden.”
“Personally – and that’s different than [Tales]– I think there is guilt. And when the Fourth Sister comes to offer her a way out of captivity, it’s like a curiosity about what will happen and what Barriss thinks about it,” concluded Salenger. “But that is also the only way to survive. And it’s incredibly contradictory [for her].”
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire begins streaming on Disney+ on May 4th.
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