Dave Filoni Talks Grogu’s Future and ‘Ahsoka’ Series
When Dave Filoni speaks, Star Wars fans listen, and he’s provided another interesting update on The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and how he’s finding directing live-action while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, even revealing Rian Johnson’s huge role in showing him the ropes.
One thing Dave reveals he is often asked is why Grogu isn’t involved in the events of the sequel trilogy. If he’s alive, then surely he’d be fighting against the First Order, right? Well, he believes it’s entirely possible that Grogu’s story could take him off somewhere entirely different so he’d never cross over with Rey, Finn, and Poe. The galaxy is a big place after all.
That’s a great question, and we talk about many different things. That’s a question for a bunch of characters by the way, not just Grogu. Where are they during these events? If anything, having made The Clone Wars and weaving a tale so intricately between two movies that were much closer together, I’ve learned that there’s expansive room in this galaxy for us to tell stories and have characters doing things.
As a kid, when Yoda said, “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be,” to Luke, I took that very literally. Well, now we know that’s anything but true. There are many different people that could wield the force, and maybe Luke is the last Jedi as far as what Yoda would consider a Jedi. So we’ll just have to wait and see how the story evolves and what makes sense. But in my experience, there’s definitely a way to weave everything together and make it exciting. It’s possible it would never even have to cross over with what we saw [in the sequel trilogy] if the story has us somewhere else.
When asked how he’d describe The Mandalorian season 3, he answered “high adventure”, which certainly matches what most people expect from a classic Star Wars project.
High adventure. Jon is such a creative storyteller. After seeing Iron Man, I thought, “Wow, he’d be great for Star Wars,” and I’ve never been disappointed in our collaboration. He’s a great person to work with, and he weaves a great tale.
With Pedro Pascal enjoying his time in the sun right now with The Last of Us and The Mandalorian returning, THR asked if he gets tempted to write Din Djarin showing his face more often.
Yeah, I would say so, except it works so well. Part of his power is that despite the helmet, he comes right through it. There’s a real character and personality that he imbues it with, and the success that he’s having doesn’t surprise Jon and I at all. He’s just an incredibly talented person and a great person to collaborate with.
THR also asked him if he felt any pressure carrying the bulk of Star Wars live-action content while Lucasfilm’s film division figures things out. Presumably seeing Andor get so much praise would have taken some weight off his shoulders, but it seems Dave doesn’t think about it that way.
I don’t know. It’s exciting, and Tony [Gilroy] did such a brilliant job with Andor. They’re just fantastic stories, and it’s great that it broadens the type of story that people can expect from Star Wars. So, pressure, no pressure, there’s always going to be pressure because we’re dealing with something that so many people care about in Star Wars, and it’s a real privilege just to get to be a part of it.
So you always want to do your best, and if anything, more than pressure, it’s just inspiring to see another team out there doing such great work. When the movies were happening and I was making Rebels, I would see all the creativity happening around me from so many different people, and what we all have in common is that we love Star Wars.
While he predictably didn’t provide any spoilers for Ahsoka, the upcoming series he is showrunner on, he did give an update on how he’s finding it:
I’m really enjoying it. It’s something that I never thought I would be doing, as much as I’ve done all these different things over the years with Star Wars. Writing and directing and collaborating on this type of thing with so many people is just the top of the mountain for me at this point. There’s a lot of work to be done, but I have an incredibly talented team all around me supporting it. So I’m cautiously optimistic. (Laughs.) But the fans will let me know. They always do.
One thing not many fans might know is Rian Johnson’s heavy involvement in teaching Filoni how to become a good filmmaker. He shadowed Johnson during the filming of The Last Jedi, learning everything he could from the writer/director, as well as visiting J.J. Abrams and Gareth Edwards on the sets of The Force Awakens and Rogue One. It turns out that Kathleen Kennedy played a huge role in making it happen.
Yeah, Kathleen Kennedy and I talked from the very beginning of her coming into Lucasfilm about whether there would be opportunities for me to experiment with live action or try it. And she really worked at coming up with a plan to educate me and get me involved. I visited J.J. [Abrams] on The Force Awakens, I visited Gareth Edwards [on Rogue One] and I visited Rian on [The Last Jedi].
But Rian was the one who shoved me up front, sticking lenses in my hand and really getting me immersed in it. And so I still talk with him to this day. He’s obviously a very talented filmmaker, and I was just very fortunate to be in such an environment where I could sit and listen and learn.
THR asked him how well he thinks he’s come on as a live-action director. Along with Rian Johnson’s influence, he also credits his mentors Jon Favreau and George Lucas in developing these skills:
I hope very far. From my first experience directing on [The Mandalorian] season one, there’s a magnitude difference between what I’m doing now. From the first episode of Mando to “The Jedi” with Rosario Dawson, there was a tremendous difference, and I credit that to Jon [Favreau], who’s a great mentor and friend.
Kathy also showed me the ropes and taught me a lot, but very much my foundation for what I’ve been doing in animation was set down by George Lucas, who is obviously a brilliant director-creator. And everything he taught me was relevant and relative to what I’m doing today. Even the technologies we are using are things he would talk about, and so I just like to tell people that I was very well prepared.
My mind was well prepared by him to face the challenges that you face day to day on a set, telling a story. It’s different than animation, but there is some crossover. But I think it’s going well; I hope it’s going well. You never know. But I like it, and I guess that’s all I can know at this point.
While we’ll be waiting until later in the year for Ahsoka, season 3 of The Mandalorian has finally debuted on Disney Plus.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
