After years working to develop some of the most beloved Star Wars properties, including the highly influential Rebels, Dave Filoni has been given the promotion he deserves. Filoni, who most recently wrote and directed Ahsoka for Disney+, is now the chief creative officer at Lucasfilm.
It’s a fitting title for one of the most knowledgeable creatives behind the scenes of the Star Wars franchise. As Filoni explains to Vanity Fair, the most significant part of his job has to do with timing. “In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into it, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways,” Filoni says. “When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.”
Filoni has been working at Lucasfilm for almost 20 years, originally hired by Star Wars mastermind George Lucas to work on an animated series. In the decades since—and especially in the last several years—Filoni has become even more important to the franchise, collaborating with Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and bringing one of his most iconic animated creations to life in the live-action Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson.
In addition to working on an upcoming Star Wars film announced at this year’s Celebration, Filoni will continue to use his storytelling skills and knowledge of canon to help other writers and directors develop new projects:
“I’m not telling people what to do,” Filoni says. “But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.” He described his responsibilities as understanding the intent of the filmmakers and being a resource to them, based on his mentorship under Lucas himself, and his years spent steering The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Ahsoka. “Literally, hours now of Star Wars storytelling I have done,” he said, before pausing to rethink his syntax. “See…I even phrased that like Yoda.”
Filoni will work closely with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Carrie Beck. Speaking to her experience working with Filoni, Ahsoka star Natasha Liu Bordizzo describes exactly what has made him so successful at Lucasfilm. “You just learn a lot from Dave in general, I think,” Bordizzo says. “I know that he’s traditional in the sense of how he learned so much from George. He has these pillars of storytelling that are dear to him, and then everything else can be untraditional.”
While Ahsoka season 2 is not official just yet, Filoni is developing an outline, according to Dawson: “I mean, they’ve not said anything officially, but I remember when we were at Star Wars Celebration in London and they were like, ‘We’re giving Dave a movie!’ And I was like, ‘I kind of feel like that means we’re probably going to get a second season.'”
(featured image: Jeff Spicer, Getty Images for Disney)
