Dave Filoni Feels Responsible to Preserve and Continue George Lucas’ Philosophy; Says Star Wars Should “Make People Feel Happy”
During Star Wars Celebration, Entertainment Weekly had the chance to sit down with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, and the outlet recently released the video from that discussion. They talked about how the work they are doing on Disney Plus is extending the legacy of Star Wars and what George Lucas created, and how Filoni has become Lucas’ heir at the company, essentially growing into a Jedi master himself.
Filoni started by saying how the entire lineup of Star Wars shows for Disney Plus is so different in tone, and how that speaks volumes to how malleable the Star Wars franchise is while its core values are still kept intact:
“We love seeing the development of all these series, you know? From the new show we are doing with Jon Watts, Skeleton Crew, but when you look at Andor, you look at Obi-Wan, you look at Mando, you look at Boba… They all do have a different feeling and a different tone, and I think that’s remarkable and really speaks to the serialized nature of Star Wars and how it can be a very flexible galaxy. I mean, it is a galaxy, so there are so many stories to tell and it’s exciting for that.”
Favreau also weighed in to lay out the model they are applying to the shows they are working on. As we saw in the latter episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, there is a very good chance for interconnectivity between these series as they all exist inside the same timeframe:
“All the shows we’ve worked on, whether it’s The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Book of Boba Fett, now Skeleton Crew, they all exist within the same timeframe. They all exist after Return of the Jedi, so I guess you would say, between Episode VI and Episode VII. There’s 30 years there that’s somewhat unexplored, certainly on the screen. To some extent it’s been explored through fiction and through extended universe stuff. So there’s a lot of room for us to tell stories and there are a lot of characters that are in play, because we know who’s around at that time. In The Mandalorian we begin to introduce those characters. We begin to remind people who knew them already or if you aren’t familiar with the other work and you are just coming in through this show we’re introducing them for the first time. And this affords us the opportunity to have stories that interconnect and characters that go from one story to the other. And that creates a very rich fabric for us to explore.”
He continued by making a tease for what’s to come in The Mandalorian season 3 following the events of The Book of Boba Fett:
“We established in The Book of Boba Fett that there was an opportunity for the Mandalorian to be redeemed, because he had transgressed against the creed by removing his helmet. And among his group of Mandalorians that is something that is not permitted. Now, we know that there are other groups of Mandalorians that have different sets of rules. In The Clone Wars we saw with Dave and also with a character that I voiced, that Mandalorians are very different there. So these different groups are coming together and we are gonna figure out how they all… The nexus point for all of those communities of course is their homeworld from which they are exiled, which is Mandalore.”
Dave Filoni then continued to explain what the core values of the Star Wars franchise should be, and how fans at Celebration are so appreciative of their work:
“You know, again, Star Wars is something that ultimately should make people feel happy. It should make you feel good, it should be uplifting, and that’s what I felt in that hall. When people are appreciating everyone, and I know that’s something so important to the DNA of these things. When you think of when you left the original Star Wars: A New Hope, the theater, people were cheering at the end. People felt great. And at a time when, you could argue, things weren’t that great outside. So I think it’s so important to give people this positive feeling that happens through these characters, this acknowledgement of these actors, who are people that basically come together and basically say ‘Thank you’. I mean, that’s all I hear all weekend if I run into people, it’s ‘Thank you’, ‘Thank you for that’.”
Jon Favreau followed up on that, saying how he thinks The Mandalorian helped build a community between many people all over the world while they were locked down due to the pandemic:
“I have not heard that before and I’ve worked on a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s because it’s Star Wars, I don’t know if it’s because it’s been such an isolating period that we’re coming out of, or beginning to come out of now. These were very trying times and, you know, launching this new streaming service with this title that nobody had any connection to… And people I think found a way to find community by watching things together. There were people that would stay up and watch it when it was first put on the service, some people were up at midnight or three in the morning, depending on where you live, and then on social media they would all talk to each other, they would create memes, they would have message boards. So I think this was a way for people to come together even though they felt very alone. And now that everybody is starting to come out and meeting each other in the sunlight, again, and seeing that they all share common things. I really think there is a community here. And we went through Disneyland together yesterday, it was Star Wars Nite, and it was just very moving to feel how much energy and excitement and appreciation there was.”
When asked what the ultimate cameo on any of their shows would be, Favreau came up with the best answer:
Favreau: “I’ll tell you, we’ve been pretty lucky with who we’ve had. We’ve had everyone from Mark Hamill to Werner Herzog. Amy Sedaris is great.”
Filoni: “She’s just Star Wars fabric now. She had no idea and now she’s in it. Which I love, she’s awesome.”
Favreau: “George. George Lucas. That would be the best cameo.”
Filoni: “He would have to be the son of Baron Papanoida or something like that. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to imagine that they would be like…”
Favreau then explained how special the dynamics he’d observed between George Lucas and Dave Filoni were:
Favreau: “Well, he’s been on the set when Dave is directing, so I love watching George and Dave together. George, who I have the most respect for, I’ve been very fortunate to have great conversations from what I’ve learned a lot… But when I see Dave and George Lucas together, that’s like a whole lot.. Because like how long did you work together? 12 years?”
Filoni: “Close to that, at least 10… I mean, it was a masterclass. Every day, it was a masterclass, so I’m trying that every day and pass on what I’ve learned. I mean, it’s the Jedi experience I’ve had. And so, honestly, that’s my biggest responsibility now, to try to explain to people what George explained to me about why this all works. Why it’s different and unique from any other fantasy series or fiction out there. George lent it a unique point of view and it’s something that we have to take care of and work on to try to improve again and again and again.”
You can check out the entire video here:
#StarWars series producers @Jon_Favreau and @dave_filoni dig into the "rich fabric" that ties #TheMandalorian, #Ashoka, and more together. pic.twitter.com/NKfRQuWYNC
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 15, 2022
Both Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are currently busy shooting two projects. Filoni is the head writer and director of multiple episodes of the Ahsoka live-action series, which Favreau is an executive producer on. The two are also developing Skeleton Crew with Jon Watts. Both series are currently filming using the Volume in Los Angeles.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
