Dave Filoni has been promoted to the role of Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm. The news comes from an interview he did with Variety. Filoni, who also has overseen projects for Lucasfilm like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka, will also retain his current title of executive vice president. This new role will have him be much more involved in the future of Star Wars from the future. This will be beyond what he already was as executive producer for the current live action series and also director of an upcoming Star Wars movie that will be weaving all the storylines together.
“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 said to Variety in an interview. “In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on. When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.”
“I’m not telling people what to do,” he continued. “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.”
The promotion for Filoni comes as several Star Wars live-action series are building towards a movie and the franchise works to make a return to the silver screen. The next thing to come from Star Wars will be the live-action series Skeleton Crew. This series was created for Disney+ by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford and is a coming of age story that stars Jude Law, among others. The Acolyte is also in the works for Disney+. This is a thriller that is helmed by Leslye Headland and set in the distant past. Tony Gilroy is working on the 2nd season of Andor to the streaming service as well. For the big screen there are several projects in the works as well. This includes movies from James Mangold, Taika Waititi, Shawn Levy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The possibility for a second season of Andor is also being discussed.
“To truly help filmmakers, it was really important for me to experience it firsthand,” Filoni said. “I can also lend a perspective on the challenges that telling these stories will present. I feel more capable of actually being helpful outside of just saying, ‘Well, Jedi are like this, and Sith are like this…’”
Dave Filoni has been an instrumental part of Star Wars for several years. In 2008, he directed the animated Clone Wars movie. He has worked with Star Wars creator George Lucas for years. Kathleen Kennedy will continue to serve as the president of Lucasfilm. Carrie Beck will also continue to as head of development. In this new equation, Filoni “weighs in on a narrative level” as Kennedy will continue to oversee Lucasfilm and Beck will be working on bringing onboard new filmmakers.
“Literally, hours now of ‘Star Wars’ storytelling I have done,” Filoni said, before pausing to rethink his syntax. “See … I even phrased that like Yoda.”
What do you think of this promotion for Dave Filoni at Lucasfilm? How do you think it impacts the future of Star Wars? Are you excited about it? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
