Dave Filoni Talks Star Wars: Rebels.

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Executive producer Dave Filoni spoke with the LA Times about the upcoming TV series Star Wars: Rebels, which is scheduled to premiere on Disney Channel and later on Disney XD this fall. The show will be the first product made by Disney after they bought Lucasfilm back in October 2012. Filoni wanted to reassure the fans that although Lucas is essentially retired from telling “Star Wars” stories, the bedrock of his teachings are still in practice today…


From LA Times:

“The same team of people in lead roles making ‘Clone Wars’ is going to be responsible for making ‘Rebels,'” Filoni recently explained in a phone interview. “Not many people seem to have grasped that. To me, there aren’t as many differences as people thought as far as the people making these shows.”

The final season of “Clone Wars,” the animated series Filoni supervised under Lucas for the past six years, finally debuted on Netflix last Friday. It is the final look fans will have at the way “Star Wars” was before Lucas stepped away. And despite the carry-over in key people such as Filoni behind the scenes, the new “Rebels” series will be different from how people have come to view “Star Wars,” especially since Lucas began releasing the prequel trilogy in 1999. 

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Set in the time period following the prequel film “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and before the original “Star Wars,” known now as “Episode IV: A New Hope,” the new series follows a newly created group of heroes doing its best to combat the all-powerful Empire aboard its ship, Ghost. The series will chronicle the formation of the so-called Rebel Alliance that eventually included Luke Skywalker and Han Solo among its members.

The new series is expected return to the fast-paced storytelling and punchy dialogue fans loved about the original trilogy of films. Gone will be the intergalactic politics and trade embargoes that many fans complained about in the prequel films. 

“In ‘Rebels,’ you’ll be in scenarios where you hear things have taken place that are furthering the story, but you won’t be watching those politics unfold,” Filoni said. “It’s on a more human level.” 

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Also, don’t expect to see the kind of lightning-quick lightsaber battles that defined “Clone Wars” and the prequel films. The mystical powers of the Force will be taking a back seat in the new series.

“I think that we all agree what we liked about the Force in the original films was it was a less-is-more scenario,” Filoni says.

Further, Filoni says the new series goes back to some of illustrator Ralph McQuarrie’s concept paintings for the original “Star Wars” film for a lot of its look, something he had originally planned to do with “Clone Wars,” but never quite achieved. With the change in leadership at Lucasfilm, however, not everything will be a throwback to the ’70s. The influence of the new leadership under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy will also be apparent.

“I know that Kathy is a very big fan of [Japanese animator Hayao] Miyazaki, so I told [art director] Kilian Plunkett to look at his designs and what makes them so iconic and memorable,” Filoni said. That, combined with McQuarrie’s original “Star Wars” designs, is the look of the new “Rebels.”

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“The biggest thing is you want older fans to watch and say, ‘Wow that looks like “Star Wars,”‘ and I want the younger fans who have never experienced it before to experience it the way I experienced ‘A New Hope,'” Filoni said.

And no one working on “Star Wars” today is better qualified to provide that original “Star Wars” effervescence than Filoni, who estimates he’s overseen something like 46 hours of “Star Wars,” working closely alongside Lucas himself for most of the eight years he’s been at Lucasfilm.

“I’m definitely the spokesman from the ‘Star Wars’ legacy side of things,” Filoni says of working alongside such newcomers to the universe as fellow executive producers Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman.

But while the people making it may change, the “Star Wars” fandom stays the same, even as it grows more excited to see the new era dawn.

“Without even one episode of ‘Rebels’ airing, people [online] have already figured out how they’re going to kill off characters,” Filoni said. “Morbid but exciting, I think.”



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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

22 thoughts on “Dave Filoni Talks Star Wars: Rebels.

  • March 12, 2014 at 10:35 am
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    I say Hurry up, Bring it on!

    Redski

  • March 12, 2014 at 11:18 am
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    Very much a reboot of A New Hope, in so many ways. Not a negative criticism because it’s merely sharing the same mythic template.

    • March 12, 2014 at 3:48 pm
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      This guy is so arrogant. “I am best suited for retelling Star Wars and kids today don’t know how wonderful Episode IV is because of those icky icky prequel movies.” Also, if they want to bring back the mystical nature of the Force, than get rid of the Inquisitor’s stupid looking lightsaber, as well as that cowboy jedi character, who shouldn’t even be alive anyways.

    • March 18, 2014 at 11:30 am
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      Lol. You can’t just bitch from one side of the argument, huh? Gotta’ be bipolar about it. Develop an opinion of your own why don’t you? Don’t just whine about everything.

    • March 12, 2014 at 3:52 pm
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      “new, bold, and mysterious” Rebels ain’t. More like “safe, tried, expected.”

  • March 12, 2014 at 3:50 pm
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    The politcs of Star Wars were very important. one shouldn’t diss them becasue they’re not as exciting as people shooting each other with blasters.

    • March 12, 2014 at 4:00 pm
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      They’re not very important for a kids show.

    • March 12, 2014 at 4:18 pm
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      I agree that they CAN definitely play an important role dramatically and to tell a strong morality driven story about how power corrupts, how people ascend to power and the mechanics that the state can employ to repress its people. But the prequels were a bit convoluted, confusing and to be honest the audience lost interest and didnt care enough, because I dont think it was presented in the best way and I don’t know how invested the viewers were with the characters through the smoke screens, secret clone army, sepratists, votes of no confidence and trade blockades.

      like typing that sentence it sounded pretty cool and dramatic but I feel like something was lost in translation of bringing the prequels to the screen. Is the answer to just drop the politics? maybe?

    • March 12, 2014 at 4:19 pm
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      The political side is essential when opening up access to the higher galactic powers who aren’t militarily-orientated, or we’d be limited to endless Imperial-Rebel skirmishes on backwater planets which edits out the vast scope of the Star Wars societies. Politics isn’t just the rotund Senate, but negotiations with planetary rulers and organised crime bosses, pirate-kings, etc.

    • March 12, 2014 at 4:21 pm
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      Give me rebels vs empire over endless lightsaber twirling any day.
      “I think that we all agree what we liked about the Force in the original films was it was a less-is-more scenario,” This guy knows what’s up.

    • March 12, 2014 at 5:56 pm
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      The political angle was never particularly important in the OT, and those stories played out brilliantly.

      As for the PT, I don’t think the problem there was the political angle per se, so much as it was the fact that Lucas wasn’t particularly deft in the way he incorporated politics into the story. I felt that the politics often ended up really bogging down the story, and I say this as something of a political junkie myself.

      IMHO, part of the problem was that Lucas envisioned a much more complex story than he was willing to put in the writing effort to support. Had he written the entire PT story at once and then parceled it out into three separate screenplays, it might have worked a bit better. But the ” make it up as I go along” approach just doesn’t work with a complex cloak-and-dagger story like that. What we ended up with was a whole lot more scenes about “discussing this in committee” than with scenes that moved the plot forward.

      I really hope they strike a better balance in the ST films. A bit of political content is cool as long as they don’t go overboard with the exposition scenes the way they often did in the PT.

  • March 12, 2014 at 4:15 pm
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    It suddenly dawned on me that the Inquisitor isn’t white-faced because he’s a Sith knock-off, but that he’s from Utapau … ?

    • March 12, 2014 at 4:20 pm
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      Yeah, he’s a Pau’n, but weren’t they more of a gray color? I think he’s still wearing make-up.

    • March 12, 2014 at 5:34 pm
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      Kind of dull white; he has their vertical facial stripes.

  • March 12, 2014 at 4:37 pm
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    I’ve enjoyed star wars since i was 5 and i’m coming up on 43 this year, and the only thing that sickens me is the hubrous displayed by some so called fans. I loved the prequels for what they were the story of the downfall of the jedi order and the bringing of balance to the force. i loved the original trilogy for its hope springs eternal and the coming of a new jedi order, and while some of the fiction i have enjoyed may not be cannon i enjoyed them all the same. I really think some people need to sit back shut up and have a coke, you dont like the creative track Star Wars is on then get off your lazy bums and create your own sci fi universe and let the simple people like me enjoy it as it comes.
    Oh and i can’t wait to see how rebels turns out and the idiots who don’t think its possible some jedi escaped notice need to get their heads checked.

    • March 12, 2014 at 5:34 pm
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      Of course some jedis survived.. Obi-Wan, Quinlan Vos and many more. The only problem is that when they can’t make one single star wars show without a guy with a lightsaber, they put the universe in a box. No lightsaber- no star wars, if you get what i mean? I really looked forward to “rebels”, but when I realised it was about a couple of rebels and this Kyle Katarn wannabe, i kinda lost hope. I love star wars, but fans can also be critics. We’re fans even when we don’t like things or the way it goes..

    • March 12, 2014 at 6:49 pm
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      “I love star wars, but fans can also be critics.”

      The worst kind of critics if you ask me. I’ve learned to never listen to critics, paid or otherwise. Some of the best films I have seen have been panned by critics. Some of the worst films I have seen have been lauded by the critics. I agree with AnonymousMarch 12, 2014 at 4:37 PM, And I’ve posted my beliefs on the subject on this very site, only to have my opinion shot down in flames by people who think they know better than me, and need to have everything now, served to them on a Silver platter. Take a breath, sit back and calm down and realize it’s just a TV show or film or whatever.

    • March 12, 2014 at 6:51 pm
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      My question is, why would an escaped Jedi choose to hide on a planet where the Empire has an enormous presence and upon that, training another Jedi there? Wouldn’t that be considered very dangerous and not worth the risk by several other wise Jedi who escaped order 66 like Ben Kenobi and Yoda? They chose to hideout on planets like Tatooine and Dagobah where the Empire had little to no presence whatsoever, which makes a lot more sense to me than hiding pretty much in plain sight, expecting powerful force-manipulators like Cideous, Vader and (apparently) the Inquisitor to not sense the presence of another person strong enough with the force to train other Jedi.

  • March 12, 2014 at 6:38 pm
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    In my opinion, I think the exaggeration of Star Wars’ roots being reprised in upcoming Disney SW releases is a clever marketing ploy they’re using to reel in fans of all ages by reassuring them that everything they love about about the franchise will be the cloud casting its’ influencial over the upcoming projects, but in reality they’ll just take things we love about the OT and twist them to fit into their new mold, expecting us all to accept it whith open arms. I still have high hopes for episode VII and will until I see the film and decide for myself whether or not I enjoy it, but most of the material we’ve seen from this Rebels series has put a very unsettling feeling in me that I never enjoy when it comes to anything Star Wars. I want to like it so bad, because I can understand where the creators are coming from, but the animation, the lack of function in a lot of the designs, the costumes, some of the character descriptions and the new opposing threat have almost made me want to steer clear of watching the show to spair myself the disappointment. I, of course, will watch the show to gather enough information to make an accurate judgement, but as a speculation at this point in time: I have a very bad feeling about this show and the effect it will have on the pre established continuity of the Star Wars saga.

  • March 12, 2014 at 7:20 pm
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    I’m pretty sure this has been asked a few times since they introduced us to the Inquisitor to be seen in Rebels, but I’ll ask anyway. Has it been officially addressed why there seems to be a resemblance between the Inquisitor and the “Son” from the Clone Wars season 3 Mortis arc? Do you all think this is just a coincidence? Or is there more to it than that? They are not mirror copies of each other, but there are enough similarities to make one wonder. Hmmmm…interesting.

  • August 7, 2014 at 8:22 pm
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    ..not a lot of “force using” and saber battles? 🙁 that stinks! that’s what I really love about star wars. the force and the power it has…and the epic saber battles…I think my favorite use of these two was in the EU’s Darth Bane trilogy. and the audiobooks of the PT. all well

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