‘Star Wars’ Vet Dave Filoni Named Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer

Aaron Couch
·2 min read
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Dave Filoni is expanding his footprint in a galaxy far, far away. The longtime Star Wars force has been named chief creative officer at Lucasfilm.

“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 told Vanity Fair, which broke the news.

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Filoni will now be involved in the early development on Star Wars projects, working with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Carrie Beck.

The move comes as Star Wars is at an inflection point. While it has been successful on the small screen, helping power subscriptions on Disney+, it has struggled to get films off the ground. There have been no features in theaters since the divisive Rise of Skywalker in 2019. As announced in April at Star Wars Celebration, Filoni is developing a live-action feature to direct, one that is said to tie together the time period between 1983’s Return of the Jedi and 2015’s The Force Awakens and presumably featuring characters from the Disney+ show.

Filoni has worked in the Star Wars galaxy two decades, cutting his teeth in the world of animation on projects such as The Clone Wars and Rebels before jumping to live action with series such as The Mandalorian, created by Jon Favreau, which became a pop culture phenomenon in late 2019, when it helped launch Disney+. Filoni recently finished unveiling the first season of Ahsoka, which he created and picked up threads from his animated TV shows. For many, he is the heir apparent to Star Wars creator George Lucas.

“I’m not telling people what to do,” Filoni told Vanity Fair of his new role. “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.”

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