Dave Filoni is now Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm

Television

Dave Filoni got himself a promotion at Lucasfilm. The producer behind Star Wars series like Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka told Vanity Fair that he is now “what’s called chief creative officer of Lucasfilm.” This position will give him a bigger say in the development of new Star Wars projects and have him working closely with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Carrie Beck to “originate and shepherd the next generation of Star Wars shows and movies.” Filoni is still working on his Star Wars movie, which is an Avengers-like conclusion to the live-action Star Wars shows on Disney+; he also may develop a second season of Ahsoka in case anyone in the audience is still awake. Here’s how he describes his new role at Lucasfilm:

“In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways… In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on… When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase… I’m not telling people what to do. But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.”

This isn’t surprising. It was pretty clear that Filoni was being positioned to run the show at Lucasfilm from a creative standpoint. He’s behind all their Disney+ series (teamed with Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian) except for Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Acolyte, the latter of which hasn’t come out yet, and he was given a movie to direct instead of Favreau. He’ll now have his hand in every pot, and as much as he says he’s not telling anyone what to do, I think he’ll have more control than he’s letting on. And it’s hard to care. I don’t like much of his work; I enjoyed some of The Mandalorian, but it took a really hard turn towards suckville. Beyond that, though, I think Star Wars is beyond salvage now; there’s no saving it when you’ve torn down the foundation on which it stood. At this point, they’re just making sand castles on the beach.