This is the story of the apprentice who becomes the master: Dave Filoni. Although in this case, the epic does not take place in a galaxy far, far away.
The story takes place rather inside the Lucasfilm production house, which has been the home of the universe Star Wars since its release in 1977. For more than three decades, filmmaker George Lucas was the head honcho of this popular Sith and Jedi franchise, which he created and turned into a glorious pop culture phenomenon through six films live-actionbefore deciding to sell his company to Disney in 2012. From there came ten years of drastic ups and downs in terms of attempts to favorably refresh said intellectual property, while still honoring the legacy of its creator.
Along these lines, the one who has shown to have a clearer idea of how to achieve the perfect balance is Dave Filonian old padawan of Lucas and that today continues to climb steps within Lucasfilm with a view to becoming a definitive beacon for the brand. Suffice it to say that in the fall of 2023, Filoni reported being named creative director—or chief creative officer— from the production house, a very high position that basically gives it omnipresence in the film and television future of Star Wars.
Who is Dave Filoni?
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, illustrator Dave Filoni was wary when he was invited in 2005 to meet with George Lucas, who supposedly had a job offer for him. At that time, this fan of Star Wars collaborated on the animated series Avatar the last Airbender Nickelodeon, for the first time in the role of director, after several years working mostly as a storyboard in the field of animation.
With a portfolio of diverse titles, the graphic scriptwriter also involved in King of the Hillfrom the Fox network, and Kim Possible, from Disney Channel, then showed up to his date without being able to believe that the offer was serious. Before him was the founder of Lucasfilm asking for his help to raise Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a computer animated series that would become the last project led by Lucas before transferring the rights to the franchise to the Mouse House. Filoni accepted the mission and served as scriptwriter and executive producer of the television program. Likewise, he held the directing chair for several of its episodes, as well as for the 2008 animated film of the same name that preceded it.
Already in the Disney era, Filoni created animated shows Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistancein addition to those still in force Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi. On the other hand, she made an alliance with filmmaker Jon Favreau—whom he had met at Skywalker Ranch while working on The Clone Wars— to write, direct and produce The Mandalorianrevolutionary series live-action from which its counterparts would later arise The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsokathe latter based on the character he originally conceived for The Clone Wars with his teacher George Lucas.
“George relied on a unique point of view, and it is something that we have to take care of and work to ensure.” [la franquicia] keep improving over and over again,” Dave Filoni told Entertainment Weekly in August 2022.
The rise of a leader
In November 2023, Dave Filoni revealed to Vanity Fair that his new position at Lucasfilm was that of chief creative officer or creative director. Currently, this title allows him to get involved like never before in all of the film and television projects of Star Wars from very early in their development, although with no intention of interfering or modifying them at will. Rather, he leads the different proposals of filmmakers, producers, creators and showrunners as long as they reach a good port.
“I don’t tell people what to do. It’s about helping them tell the best version of the story they want to tell,” he clarified to the media. “I have to be a help throughout the galaxy. It’s almost like being part of a Jedi Council.”
Under the supervision of the newly appointed creative director, later we will have the announced films by filmmakers Taika Waititi and James Mangold, in addition to the one starring Daisy Ridley with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in the director’s chair, without forgetting Landautape spin-off written by brothers Stephen and Donald Glover. Filoni himself is still signed to write and direct an upcoming feature film live-action where the plot lines of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsokaall set in the New Republic era.
Regarding the hierarchy at Lucasfilm, president Kathleen Kennedy evidently remains the highest authority of this company that also shelters Indiana Jones. On the other hand, as regards Star WarsVP Carrie Beck currently serves as head of development—which includes recruiting new storytellers—while Filoni holds the narrative compass for everything to come within the intergalactic franchise.
The personal goal of George Lucas’s apprentice is to become a mentor for current and future generations of creatives who have the task of expanding Star Wars to previously unexplored frontiers.
A new hope
Even before his prestigious promotion, Dave Filoni was already an invaluable source of consultation for Kathleen Kennedy, who constantly sought him out when making decisions about where to direct the narrative wealth of Star Wars and its countless characters. In the eyes of the president of Lucasfilm, the seven-time Emmy nominee has always been someone very empathetic and who motivates “meaningful and thoughtful discussions” around the background of the narrative; that is, what must be at the heart of all these stories, based on the teachings of George Lucas.
It is not for nothing that Filoni receives the nickname “Lucas’s encyclopedia,” after working closely with Lucas’s father. Star Wars for almost a decade, learning from him everything related to the mythology on which the franchise is built and the appropriate way to capture it on the screen.
“It was a daily master class,” Filoni said of his close collaboration with Lucas to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s the Jedi experience that I had and honestly that’s maybe my biggest responsibility now: trying to explain to people what George explained to me about why this all works, why it’s different and unique from any other fantasy series or fiction out there.”
In 2019, Lucas declared Vanity Fair having perceived two very valuable virtues in Filoni since he invited him to be part of The Clone Wars. “I immediately realized that he had a very open mind and that he knew how to listen, qualities that I admire because they open a person to new experiences,” said the septuagenarian filmmaker, who despite having renounced the Skywalker universe, did not waste the opportunity. opportunity to occasionally visit his old padawan on film sets.
Once upon a time, as Jon Favreau spoke to empire in 2023, in which during the filming of the second season of The Mandalorian, Lucas gave Filoni “a hard time in a playful and loving way” by berating him for not filming fast enough. But in the end, that was part of the Jedi code with which he instructed his ward: there was always something to learn.
Antonio G. Spindola I have very bad memory. Out of solidarity with my memories, I choose to get lost too. Preferably, in a movie theater.