Yahoo News Tales of the Jedi finally shows Count Dooku's turn to the dark side
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi.
Star Wars: Episode II — Attack the Clones introduced us to a shapeshifting bounty hunter, a death stick salesman named Elan Sleazebaggano, a Jedi who hates sand, and a former Jedi Master who had turned to the dark side named Count Dooku. In the 20 years since that movie came out, we have seen the character of Dooku fleshed out in both animated from (courtesy of The Clone Wars) and in expanded universe books, but we have never seen his descent to the dark side… until now.
In the new Star Wars series Tales of The Jedi (now streaming on Disney+), we see Dooku's gradual turn from rule-breaking Jedi to loyal servant to Darth Sidious. The hints of Dooku's impending turn show up in the episode titled "Justice," as the Count force-chokes a corrupt senator and then force-pushes his young padawan Qui-Gon Jinn back against a barn to stop him from interceding.
"Corruption like yours must be eradicated," he ominously tells the senator before being snapped out of it by his pupil. (This episode is also notable because we get to see the future Sith Lord for the first time with his trademark beard.)
Lucasfilm Ltd. Count Dooku on 'Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi'
Dooku travels closer to the edge in the next episode, "Choices," when he seems to at least partially excuse some guards who killed a Jedi while rebelling against yet another corrupt senator. Shaken by the affair, Dooku later asks his pal Mace Windu, "Do you think the Jedi would truly keep peace if they continued to take everything the senate says as law?" The breaking point may occur at the end of the installment when Windu is appointed to the Jedi Council over Dooku because the former plays by the rules and the latter does not. If there is one thing Dooku has always been, it is proud, and this blow to the ego appears profound.
All is shattered in the final Dooku episode, "The Sith Lord," which takes place after the death of Qui-Gon Jinn. While it is not expressly laid out in the episode, this has been established in previous books as a time after Dooku had already left the Jedi yet still was friendly with the order. Whether that timeline has now changed or Dooku is merely visiting his old stomping grounds, we actually see him deleting Kamino from the Jedi archives, an act that plays a major part in Attack of the Clones.
But the true shocker is saved for the very end. Dooku travels to meet with Lord Sidious, but is followed by Jedi Master Yaddle (who served on the Jedi Council in The Phanton Menace and is voiced here by Bryce Dallas Howard). Yaddle confronts the pair (NOT SMART! What happened to calling for backup?) and Dooku is pressured by his new master to kill his former friend and colleague, cementing his turn to the dark side — much like when Palpatine tricked Anakin into chopping off Mace Windu's arm en route to becoming Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith.
Lucasfilm Ltd. Count Dooku on 'Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi'
The episodes mark not only the return of Count Dooku, but the return of Corey Burton, who also voiced the character on The Clone Wars. Burton spoke to EW's Star Wars podcast, Dagobah Dispatch, about playing Dooku again and what was it like voicing a younger, less menacing version of the character. It turns out it was actually about the same. "When I first saw the script," Burton told Dagobah Dispatch, "I thought, oh, okay, he's much younger. I should play him as a very young and innocent guy. You know, 'I'm just training to be a Jedi one day, and gee, that would be swell!'"
Burton laughed and added, "I started out, and [series creator Dave Filoni] went, 'No, no, no, no. Play Dooku. Play Dooku. He's always been Dooku.' And then I thought, 'Well, yeah, when I was 17, I sounded like this.' The basic timbre and personality of the voice doesn't really change that much from one's teen years."
But Dooku himself certainly does, as we have now finally seen on screen. To listen to our full interviews with Burton (who also discussed playing notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane and how he helped get Mark Hamill onto The Clone Wars) and Ashley Eckstein (who voices Ahsoka Tano), check out the latest episode of Dagobah Dispatch.
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