Tiya Sircar on Sabine's Star Wars Rebels Journey

"Legacy of Mandalore" saw Sabine Wren take the Darksaber home to reunite with her mother, brother, and the rest of Clan Wren. She went toe to toe with Gar Saxon and proved her mettle. Her warrior spirit was on full display and after she effectively knocked Saxon out of power by defeating him, she was faced with a hard decision: does she stay to help her blood family and guide Mandalore or does she go back to her surrogate family on the Ghost?

She chose to remain with the Wrens. It couldn't have been an easy decision, but Sabine might not have felt like she had a choice. StarWars.com talked to the voice of Sabine, Tiya Sircar, about Sabine's development in Season Three of Star Wars Rebels, learning Sabine would be leaving the Ghost crew, and the biggest challenge ahead of her.

StarWars.com: Sabine's maturity has leveled up in Season Three. "Trials of the Darksaber" went to a different level of emotion. What's it been like exploring that side of Sabine?

Tiya Sircar: It was such a gift that [executive producer] Dave Filoni gave me, such an opportunity that I feel a lot of actors in the voiceover world, animated world, don't get. It's a special opportunity to get to delve into this emotional experience. Dave was so great about it because, I'm sure you know, we record as a cast -- the full cast together. For "Trials of the Darksaber," he had Freddie [Prinze Jr.] and I record separately from the cast at first, just to really work through all of our stuff together and to give us the time and the space we might need to really get to where we needed to be emotionally.

It was really wonderful and so interesting to get to see a character who is so guarded and so strong and uses sarcasm and wit and snark at every opportunity, to be so vulnerable. That was new. To play Sabine in this sort of scenario, and allowing herself to be so vulnerable and emotional. It was a very unique experience. On top of all that, really going to this place emotionally, doing the physicality as well.

StarWars.com: Right, because she's physically pushing into new territory with the Darksaber while she confronts her guilt and her past. 

Tiya Sircar: It added a whole other layer. I'm glad. Again, Freddie and I were basically one-on-one. Dave was leading us through as he always does, but this time it was an extra level of performance that I haven't gotten the opportunity to do thus far. Balancing emotion with also getting the physicality right and really going for it was all a challenge, but I'm so happy I got to do it. It was so rewarding, especially getting to see the episode once it was done.

StarWars.com: When you first learned about Sabine's decision to stay with her family, what was your reaction?

Tiya Sircar: Dave doesn't tell us much. He gives us as much as we need for the performance that he needs from us. That's the Dave Filoni special. I never feel like I need to know something that he's not telling us. I only feel like that because I am so curious. As a fan and a viewer, I want so badly to know. I think it works perfectly. This time, actually, he gave me a good heads up with quite a bit of time, saying, "Listen, we've got this episode coming up. This is what I'm going to need from you." I just want you to be mentally and emotionally prepared that it's going to be an emotional episode. I'm going to need you to go to places that I haven't asked you to go before. I, of course, was, maybe a little nervous, only because I didn't know anything about it. I just knew that this was coming.

I was also obviously so excited because I was so intrigued. He gave me the scoop on what would be transpiring beforehand, so I had a little time to digest that before I got to read the script. Of course, when I read the script, I was like, "Holy moly!" Now what?

Yeah, so that was probably a little nerve-wracking. What happens? How does this end? What's the resolution? Do I ever see this family again?

StarWars.com: It has to be hard for Sabine to leave the Ghost crew. I mean, she didn't even get to say goodbye to Hera.

Tiya Sircar: I think Sabine is sad. I was sad. When I read that, I'm like, "But what do you mean she's not going back?" I mean obviously, Sabine is loyal and dutiful. My dad has a lot of catch phrases, but one of them is, "A man's got to do what a man's got to do." I feel like Sabine feels like a Mandalorian's got to do what a Mandalorian's got to do. This is her family. These people are obviously very important to her, so she knows what she must do. I don't think it's an easy decision for her to make. Definitely, I feel like, she doesn't know, she can't predict the future. She just knows who could use her the most at this juncture. She knows she makes this decision, and she knows it's the right one. It doesn't make it any easier.

It's so emotional that she says goodbye to these people that are her family, and doesn't know when she'll see them again. She knows that she's needed there as well. It's just that she knows that this is what she has to do. I think that part is clear. In that way, the decision isn't difficult. I think it's just a matter of, "When have we been apart?" In the time that we've known these characters... I was a little emotional about what's to come because I didn't know when we'd all be reunited.

Yeah, sorry, Hera. Please don't be mad. The other thing is Sabine knows that everyone within this crew values family and duty pretty highly. I don't think anyone, although they might be sad to see her go and a little bit unsure about what the future holds, I don't think anyone doesn't understand.

StarWars.com: She's away from the Ghost family now, she's with her people. In the episodes ahead, what are some of the biggest challenges Sabine will have to face?

Tiya Sircar: Well, reconciling what we just talked about -- what she feels like is her duty and what she feels is the right thing to do. Then, also maybe what she feels like she would rather be doing, perhaps. So she's being pulled in different directions, which we've never seen happen before. She has two families that she has to answer to is maybe the wrong way to put it, but she has a responsibility for. She has to balance that and reconcile dealing with one, and what does that mean for the other, and vice versa. She's juggling, actually, and also being faced with these people whom she's obviously thought a lot about but hasn't seen in a while.

So much has transpired while she was away. So much miscommunication, and misunderstanding, and resentment has built. She's grappling with all of that, and maybe realizing that she might have had them wrong. She might have had the wrong idea. When there's no resolution, your mind runs wild. And so you have one idea of what transpired and maybe the other parties have a totally different idea. Getting to hash all that out, I think is part of what is to come for her.

Amy Ratcliffe is a writer obsessed with Star Wars, Disney, and coffee. Follow her on Twitter at @amy_geek.