Lucasfilm has updated its website. Normally that wouldn’t be news, but the update came with confirmation that Dave Filoni had been promoted to executive creative director and everyone got very excited. Although, it turns out that Filoni has held that position for nearly a year, having been given it last summer, but the site just hadn’t been updated and Lucasfilm hadn’t made a big deal out of it. Still, it is something for Star Wars fans to be excited about.
Filoni is seen as the standard-bearer for the franchise, having been handpicked by George Lucas to run Star Wars: The Clone Wars and having worked closely with him to expand the Star Wars universe there. In fact, his work since coming on board has been some of the only universally praised efforts across fandom. Clone Wars is obviously highly regarded, but he also developed Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Resistance for Disney after they acquired the franchise. Both those animated series were generally well-received too, and it led to Jon Favreau bringing him on board as executive producer of The Mandalorian, where he helped guide the series and make it feel like Star Wars.
For many Filoni is the person who should be leading creative decisions at Lucasfilm, considering his deep and successful involvement with the franchise both pre- and post-Disney acquisition. This is especially true given the nearly universal hatred of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi, along with a host of other mishandlings of the franchise in the film side of things. Studio head Kathleen Kennedy has been in hot water with fans now for a while, and the idea that Dave Filoni is steering the creative side of the ship as executive creative director could be a big relief for fans.
And he is definitely steering the ship. He and Favreau are currently working on a host of Disney+ series, including the next season of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Rangers of the New Republic. All those shows, which take place around the same time period, are said to be culminating in a “storytelling event” that Filoni is overseeing. That’s not to mention the new animated series spun-off from The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, and the plethora of upcoming film projects and shows he isn’t directly involved with that his new title will allow him to guide. Clearly, Filoni is the chosen one; hopefully he doesn’t turn to the Dark Side.
