Warning: SPOILERS for Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part III” are ahead!
The live-action Star Wars TV shows have made a habit of bringing in big-name actors to play minor characters. For example, The Mandalorian Season 2 premiere featured John Leguizamo as the voice of Gor Koresh, and on The Book of Boba Fett, we got to see folks like Stephen Root and Danny Trejo in a galaxy far, far away. For the latest episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Zach Braff voiced an alien the title character crossed paths with, and the actor has shared some behind-the-scenes pictures of his time on the Star Wars series proving he’s no scrub… see, because he played JD on Scrubs… never mind.
While on Mapuzo in “Part III,” Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vivien Lyra Blair’s Leia Organa ran into an alien named Freck, who was an Imperial transport driver who agreed to give the two a lift. In addition to voicing Freck, Zach Braff’s facial movements were also captured, and the actor provided some peeks on Instagram of what his time on Obi-Wan Kenobi was like:
Considering how big a Star Wars fan Zach Braff is, getting to appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi must have been a blast for him. And he’s not the only main Scrubs actor who’s lent their talents to the Star Wars franchise. Donald Faison, who’s Braff’s real-life best friend and co-host of the Fake Doctors, Real Friends podcast, voiced Hype Fazon in Star Wars Resistance and a tactical droid in a Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7 episode, as well as starred in all three of Robot Chicken’s Star Wars specials.
What was a huge opportunity for Zach Braff resulted in a stroke of bad luck for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although Freck presented a pleasant demeanor to the Jedi Master and the young girl, he was actually taking them to be inspected at an Imperial outpost, and it was only thanks to the intervention of Indira Varma’s Tala, an Imperial officer secretly helping the planet’s underground network, that they weren’t taken into custody by the stormtroopers. Obi-Wan knocked Freck unconscious during the skirmish, so perhaps there will come a day where Braff can reprise the character, whether it’s in live-action again or in an animated TV series.
Now that “Part III” has been released to Disney+ subscribers, we’re already at the halfway point with Obi-Wan Kenobi. This latest episode also brought Darth Vader fully back into play, with Hayden Christensen physically portraying the character and James Earl Jones voicing him (with some aid from Respeecher). 10 years after their duel on Mustafar, Obi-Wan and Vader crossed paths again, and since Obi-Wan’s rusty with the Force at this point in his life, Vader quickly overpowered him. Luckily Tala came to Obi-Wan’s aid yet again, but having been set on fire (seriously), he’s in a rough spot right now.
New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiere Wednesdays on Disney+. CinemaBlend will continue providing coverage on the series and pass along news concerning upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.
