As the studio’s new head of creative, Dave Filoni will have greater influence over the future of the Star Wars franchise.
You don’t need us to tell you that Lucasfilm has struggled with Star Wars over the last few years. The studio’s small screen offerings have been a pretty mixed bag, while on the movie front, things have gotten increasingly bleak as a series of cancellations, firings and premature announcements have often offered the impression that the studio’s leadership is clearly struggling to figure out a clear path forwards.
One bright light in all of this has been Dave Filoni who, more often than not, has been behind some of the series’ most successful creative successes.
He first started working on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars a couple of decades ago and in more recent years has been the guiding force behind The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, the latest Star Wars TV show from Lucasfilm.
News has emerged today (via Vanity Fair) that Filoni has been promoted and is now the chief creative officer at Lucasfilm. This means he will report directly to Kathleen Kennedy, the studio president. It also means he’ll hold significantly more influence as to the creative direction of the franchise.
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Filoni is quoted in the piece, explaining how he views his new job, stating, “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. 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.
“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.”
Filoni confirmed that despite the promotion, he’s still working on directing his own Star Wars film, one of several film projects announced earlier this year.
He also added that a second season of Ashoka is still being explored. How this impacts Star Wars in the longer term remains to be seen but given Filoni’s past successes, this seems like a logical move.
Read more: Ahsoka | Star Wars follows Marvel’s foootsteps – and not in a good way
