Doctor Aphra: Interview with Sarah Kuhn

Doctor Aphra—the infamous rogue archaeologist—has stolen the hearts of Star Wars fans around the world ever since her first bold introduction in the Darth Vader comic book series back in 2015. Five years later after two proprietary comic series, numerous paper cameos, and even a few action figures, Doctor Aphra’s origin story—based on Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca’s critically acclaimed series—is reintroduced and expanded in audio format, performed by a full all-star cast. Author Sarah Kuhn has been a big fan of the rogue archaeologist since the beginning. “I just loved how she really grabbed you by the throat immediately. She’s such a visceral, chaotic presence,” Kuhn shared in an interview with TatooineTimes.com.

Although Aphra’s character had a secondary presence in the Darth Vader series, her unique personality, humor, and tenacity immediately stole the spotlight in every comic panel appearance. Reader’s appraisal allowed Doc to continue her adventures in two of her very own comic series (one still ongoing), but her introductory tale always felt incomplete. What was Aphra doing while she was missing from the comic pages? “I really wanted to dig into the relationship between her and Sana Starros, which is part of the initial comic story where they see each other again, and you can tell they really hate each other. It sort of made me wonder what they were like as a couple … when they were happy,” Kuhn explained.

The audiobook original did not just expand upon the comic book series, but told the story from Aphra’s point of view through various recordings—almost reminiscent of the Calrissian Chronicles from Solo: A Star Wars Story. “I really wanted to tell this story in Aphra’s voice, from her POV,” Kuhn said. “We certainly read a lot of her commentary in the comics, but we don’t always know what she’s thinking. I wanted to be really deep into her perspective and give you the story in her voice.”

As soon as the script was written, the team at Random House Audio went to production. The voice cast was chosen, and for the very first time the voices of Doctor Aphra and her murderous droid Triple-Zero came to life through the outstanding performances of Emily Woo Zeller and Sean Kenin.

Sarah Kuhn had the opportunity to listen to a teaser clip during the initial stages of production. “It was really emotional to hear Aphra for the first time. It just felt like Emily [Woo Zeller] had somehow climbed into my head or climbed into the heads of everyone who’s ever written Aphra, and she really just nailed it,” Kuhn shared. “There’s a lot that she has to do in this book. She has to project that Aphra’s sense of bravado and panache and attitude that we all know so well. She also has to be really vulnerable, but at the same time, since she’s Aphra, she’s obviously trying not to be vulnerable. She has to be romantic and show that Aphra’s sort of immediate attraction to Sana is so visceral and deep and real.”

Equally challenging was the development of Triple-Zero’s voice. What does the protocol droid sound like? Is it exactly like C-3P0? Is it just tweaked a little bit? Is the accent different? Sean Kenin and Producer Nick Martorelli made it all happen. The scene where Triple-Zero is being disguised as Threepio by Aphra is a statement of Kenin’s voice acting versatility. “I remember we were trying to come up with a way to really show the disguise of Triple-Zero as C-3P0. In the comic books she paints him gold, but you can’t see that right before they’re going to ambush Luke Skywalker,” Kuhn explained. “We came up with that sequence where he’s going through the process of changing his voice so it sounds like C-3P0. I think it’s funny because he’s coming up with all these things that he thinks C-3P0 would say that are obviously very ass-kissing to humanoids and Triple-Zero hates that. I thought that his take on it was really funny, and I think that was a really fun part for Sean and Nick to play with.”

Doctor Aphra is more than just a fascinating character in a galaxy far, far away. Her representation of diversity and inclusion in the franchise continue to enrich storytelling while helping to bring a broader audience into the Star Wars fandom.

“I feel like the importance of her presence in the Star Wars universe really can’t be understated. She’s a queer woman of color … that’s amazing!” Kuhn said. “I’m an Asian American woman. I grew up loving Star Wars, but I never really saw a face like mine in Star Wars. That’s gotten a little better over the years. I think things have gotten much more inclusive as the franchise has grown, but obviously there’s still more work to be done. I think it’s important for everyone who loves Star Wars to also be able to see that they can exist in that galaxy and not only can they exist, but they can really be centered in a way they could drive the story. I think everyone deserves to see themselves as a hero, and I also think that we need to see all different kinds of heroes with all different faces because it sort of expands our idea of what a hero can be,” Kuhn explained.

“One thing that I particularly have always loved about Doctor Aphra is that she’s so unapologetic about who she is. A lot of times from my experience when I see a woman of color character introduced in a big franchise, I’m expecting that she will be cannon fodder. She will die or she will be some kind of sidekick that’s really there to teach us a lesson about racism or something like that. And I feel like Doctor Aphra is one of those characters that just gets to have really cool adventures … we need a lot more of that. It’s really exciting to get to see a character who has the face like mine centered in a franchise like this.”

Doctor Aphra: An Audiobook Original is the perfect origin story for the rogue archaeologist, whether you have already read the 2015 Darth Vader comic book series or are just now getting to know about her adventures. Give it a listen (also check out the original script book) and make sure to follow Sarah Kuhn on Twitter and Instagram.