Dropout star Vic Michaelis used to fall asleep to Attack of the Clones. Not because they hated it, like so many Star Wars prequel detractors, but because it was their comfort watch. “I’ve seen the first 45 minutes of Episode II, I want to say, 300 times,” Michaelis told Polygon. “It’s so comforting. The prequels hold a place in my heart where it is like nothing bad can happen when I’m watching them.”
Michaelis has now gone from watching Star Wars to being a part of the larger Star Wars universe. In Star Wars Zero Company, they played breakout character Runa Blask, the wise-cracking advisor to the titular mercenary group, led by Captain Hawks.
Michaelis hails from the improv comedy world, but they’ve done film and scripted TV shows as well. Zero Company was their first-ever video game role. “I was so simultaneously terrified, obviously, of the video game aspect of it and also, you know, the Star Wars of it all.”
Turns out, that fear was unnecessary. The team at Bit Reactor was familiar with Michaelis’ Dropout work, and that was part of the reason they wanted Michaelis for the role.
Their improv background helped influence their performance, though they weren’t changing lines or jokes. “The improv is so much about the preparation in a way that I think people don’t really know.” Instead, all of Runa’s best quips were already in the very strong script. “All of my favorite lines that Runa had were written or pitched lines from the writers,” Michaelis said.
Among those lines were many instances of Runa saying “wizard,” which basically means “cool” in Star Wars. “Runa’s very tall, everything is ‘wizard,’” Michaelis said with a laugh, joking they must have said the word “500 times.”
Fans have glommed onto Runa for her constant jokes and ribbing of Hawks. “I’m seeing a lot of people being like, ‘Runa, I love her, and I wanna throw her out a window.’ Which I really resonate with, and I think was part of what we were going for,” Michaelis said. “Big sister vibes.”
Runa can’t be thrown out a window. She actually can’t be harmed at all. While the game features a permadeath feature for its operators, Runa doesn’t go on combat missions and doesn’t leave The Den, Zero Company’s headquarters.
“I did start seeing people devastated and heartbroken that some characters that they put a lot of time and energy into didn’t make it through,” Michaelis said. “Do I wish people sort of mourned me in that way? Maybe. I don’t know. I’m going to be thinking about that.”
Before Runa was a member of Zero Company, she was a self-described “freelance consultant to the top corporations and families in the galaxy.” AKA, a Separatist financial fixer. She desires a fortune that working for Zero Company will never grant her. As she tells Hawks, if she had that fortune, she’d want to buy a moon and run a resort. Michaelis has much humbler aspirations if they were to live in the world of Star Wars. “I would want to be a small business owner,” Michaelis said, and started describing what would make for a very fun Disney Plus show.
“I want to do a comedy night at my bookstore and all of a sudden, you’ve got a bunch of interplanetary politics or some red tape of why I can’t do this. Then I’m marching up to the Republic with my civil city ordinances, trying to get this comedy night happening, and I’m accidentally now involved and implicated in a sort of a greater plot,” Michaelis said. “And all I wanted to do was try and get a couple of standups at my bookstore at night so I could sell wine after hours.”
If Star Trek can have a critically acclaimed animated sitcom, why can’t Star Wars have a series about a store owner just trying to get a comedy night off the ground? Your move, Disney.
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