00:04D23, Southern California. It's a big Disney event. Why are we here? Star Wars Battlefront II. That's right, there is
00:10Star Wars all over the show floor. We're going to get details on the next game coming to Xbox One.
00:22I've waited 30 years for this. This story takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi, and we'll
00:27span through The Force Awakens, and we are going to be following Commander Iden Versio, who is the leader of
00:32Special Forces Unit Inferno Squad for the Empire. So we are going to be seeing the events that we might
00:39be familiar with in the films from a totally new perspective.
00:42What can we expect from Battlefront II in terms of gameplay?
00:45So in terms of gameplay, we've got the breadth of both multiplayer and single-player campaigns. So in multiplayer, we
00:52are going to be spanning all three eras. So that means we've got prequel trilogy content, original trilogy content, new
00:57trilogy content. We've got amazing space battles, and then we've got our single-player campaign that's built off of the
01:04same great systems that DICE and Criterion are building for the multiplayer.
01:07So we're going to see a lot of the crossover of game mechanics and all of those different elements. And
01:12one of the really exciting things for Iden Versio herself as an Imperial Agent is she will have a droid
01:19that is specific to her that allows for some diversity of her gameplay specifically.
01:24I talked to Janina and she was telling us how excited she was to work on this project, as anybody
01:28would be, but also that she said it was really collaborative and she brought a lot to it. Tell us
01:32about what she brought to it.
01:33I mean, she brings everything. She is Iden. So when you think of a character and when you craft it,
01:39when the writers commit it to the page after hours and hours of conversation of who we want this person
01:44to be, ultimately that character is realized by the actor inhabiting them.
01:49And Janina was able to come in and understand Iden and who she was and why she was making choices,
01:56where she came from, and able to embody that in a really wonderful way.
01:59So she brings the actual personality. She brings Iden to life.
02:02All right, I'm here with Janina Gavankar. Janina, I am so excited to talk to you. You and I have
02:06known each other for a long time.
02:08And then all of a sudden, I, you know, we haven't chatted in a while. I read on the internet,
02:11you're in Star Wars Battlefront II! Oh my god!
02:14This is unbelievable. Tell us about your character.
02:16She is a commander. Her name is Iden Versio. She is the commander of an elite Special Ops Imperial unit.
02:24They're like the cleanup crew.
02:26You send us in, we fix your problems. How did you tap into your inner darkness?
02:31Well, you know, everybody, every villain is the hero of their own story. So you might see the dark side
02:38as villainous, but I'll tell you, it is the correct side of things.
02:41We're trying to bring peace and order to the galaxy. That's all we want.
02:44You've been involved with a lot of different television shows and movies. Production for video games is slightly different.
02:50It's much, you know, you go into the studio a few years before, you lay down your tracks. What has
02:54been your involvement in the development of the game and the character?
02:59So I have done performance capture in video games before. But one thing that was really unexpected in this experience
03:06was how collaborative it would be.
03:09This is one of the most collaborative experiences I've ever had in any medium.
03:12We have been allowed as actors to work with the writers and the producers and military consultants and the story
03:17group to make sure this is an authentic Star Wars experience.
03:22So we've had talks about what happens in Imperial families and on Imperial home planets.
03:29We've talked about the culture of the Imperial life. So it was easy to step into her big boots.
03:38Yeah, and they're quite big now. Your character is a powerful female and that's something that we love seeing in
03:44video games, more so lately.
03:46And that's something I know you have a passion around, correct?
03:48It's amazing to see all these female characters coming out now, which means that that started getting seeded in the
03:52industry five years ago.
03:53Half a decade it took. So it's all coming out right now for a female gamer. That's really exciting.
03:58For women in general, which is half of the planet, it's very exciting. And also, this is not a gendered
04:04experience.
04:05Right.
04:05You are a badass elite soldier.
04:08Right.
04:09It doesn't matter if you're a girl or a boy.
04:11Yeah.
04:12So that is all very exciting to me. And it means a lot to me, yeah.
04:15There is a book that is coming out July 25th. It is about the backstory and the dawn of Inferno
04:21Squad.
04:21Okay.
04:22And in the first chapter...
04:26Oh my gosh, that was almost a spoiler.
04:28But we talk about... Vader.
04:30Right, that's it. That's all you can say. Say no more.
04:32Say no more.
04:33So there's a book coming out that's gonna really set us up. And you were involved with the book?
04:37They let me voice the audiobook.
04:38What is this? How are you getting these gigs? This is unbelievable.
04:40I'm telling you! I can't believe they're letting me do these things.
04:42So you have this entire audiobook. You're in the video game. I mean, what's next?
04:46I don't know, but please let it be so many other things.
04:48Are you in the next film?
04:49Someone, please tell me if that's a real thing.
04:51Who's your favorite Star Wars character?
04:55I mean, Lord Vader is...
04:56Okay.
04:57Yeah.
04:57Well, you know why I'm asking that, because I thought you'd answer that.
05:00He's pretty amazing.
05:00And I don't know if we can get a shot of this, but I have my Lord Vader socks on.
05:04Oh my gosh!
05:06Are you getting this?
05:08Thank you for your time.
05:10So good to see you.
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