Sam: We always conceived of Starkiller as partially a Darth-Maul-type character, though I had no clue I was going to end up playing Maul later. Starkiller is the reason I’m in Star Wars, and it’s all because my buddy, David Collins, took my headshot and he snuck it into the audition pile.
David was the lead sound on Force Unleashed, and he commits this act of sabotage (laughs). I get an audition, and I get hired. Months later, we’re shooting, but we didn’t have the character of PROXY cast. They were going to cast a comedian or a celebrity, but David was filling in, and David was hitting all the right beats. The performance was not only heartfelt and beautiful, but it was also really funny.
We went to [project lead] Haden Blackman, and we’re like, “You’re just gonna direct whoever you hire to do what David is already doing. So why not just give it to David?”
Fast forward almost 20 years, and David Collins is the lead sound on Shadow Lord. Dave Filoni, who knows all the Lucasfilm lore, goes, “I want David Collins to play Sam’s sidekick in this.” That’s where we get Maul’s droid, Spybot. He’s one of my favorite Star Wars characters — kind of a jerk of a droid, but also hilarious and kind of lovable at the same time.