Dave Filoni Is Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm, Will Be ‘Planning the Future’ of ‘Star Wars’ Films and Shows

Dave Filoni, who has overseen “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Rebels,” “The Mandalorian,” “Ahsoka” and is the master of all things in a galaxy far, far way, now has a new role as Lucasfilm: chief creative officer. He still holds the title of executive vice president, which he received in 2020.

Filoni announced his chief creative officer title in an interview with Vanity Fair on Tuesday. He was already an executive producer of all live-action “Star Wars” shows on Disney+ and had been tapped to direct a film weaving together all of the TV storylines, but he will now take a more involved role with the future of “Star Wars.”

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“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,” he said. “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 added. “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.”

“Star Wars” is slowly planning a grand return to the big screen. The franchise has several more TV series in the works too. Up next is “Skeleton Crew,” a coming-of-age story created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford; “The Acolyte,” a thriller helmed by Leslye Headland set in the distant past; and Season 2 of Tony Gilroy’s “Andor.” On the big screen there are films in the works by James Mangold, Taika Waititi, Shawn Levy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Filoni is also “exploring a possible second season” of “Ahsoka,” which starred Rosario Dawson as the live-action, grown-up version of Jedi Ahsoka Tano.

“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…’”

Filoni has been with the “Star Wars” universe since directing the “Clone Wars” movie in 2008 and has worked closely with creator George Lucas for years. Kathleen Kennedy will still serve as president of Lucasfilm and Carrie Beck as head of development. Filoni “weighs in on a narrative level” while Kennedy oversees Lucasfilm and Beck brings other filmmakers into the fold.

“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.”

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