Dave Filoni Is Right Where Star Wars Needs Him to Be

There has been a great disturbance in the Force. As if, somehow, millions of voices suddenly cried out “what if Dave Filoni got a promotion?” and WatchAndor Episodes 1-3 Review CCShare SubtitlesOffEnglishIn many ways, the role is much more akin to his time as an executive producer on at his filmography, he’s arguably never been that much of a writer or a director until his burgeoning transition from Lucasfilm Animation to live-action projects.AdvertisementAnd it’s a role that plays to many of Filoni’s strengths. AdvertisementExcept what Filoni really gets right about Star Wars so often is not really these specific beats and the moment-to-moment of the narrative, but its larger ideas—which is exactly the kind of focus he will have in his role as a CCO, and one more akin to the kind of relationship he had on Clone Wars with George Lucas. Lucas didn’t have a direct hand in writing or directing the animated series, but was in writing rooms with producers and the creative team to offer tonal suggestions or big-picture ideas. For as many faults as you can point to in shows like Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, or Ahsoka, there’s a lot of good ideas, even if the execution on a scene-by-scene level isn’t always there to match—the latter’s exploration of a more It also, as Filoni himself also noted, lets him work with a wide array of talent—a wide array of perspectives, which is something Star Wars desperately needs, coming out of a period where a handful of people, Filoni included, have had their hands directly in much of the current material. We were already beginning to see the seeds of that as Lucasfilm has tried (and, largely so far, not quite yet achieved) to rearrange a post-Rise of Skywalker slate for the franchise. Before his announcement this week as CCO, Filoni was just one of a group of directors involved in what now appears to be most AdvertisementAnd that’s what Star Wars is in need of—not just someone who can guide a more broad creative vision for a franchise that has felt lost in recent years, but one who can make way for a range of creatives with their own lenses and perspectives on the franchise, to let it become more than a singular defining view of it. If that’s what Filoni’s elevation leads to, Star Wars’ future is looking a little brighter than it has in some time. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest

Based on reporting by gizmodo.com.