When you think about the architects of ‘Star Wars’, a number of people come to mind. George Lucas is naturally at the top of the list. Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan, John Williams, and J.J. Abrams are all up there too. But when it comes to the animated corners of a galaxy far, far away, Dave Filoni is the man. Following his work on ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, he went on to fill some major gaps in ‘Star Wars’ mythology as the supervising director on the animated television shows ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and ‘Star Wars Rebels.’ However, it looks like there have been some huge changes behind the scenes at Lucasfilm Animation. But worry not because this looks to be a good thing.
According to Big Shiny Robot, Filoni will no longer serve as the supervising director of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ as of this third season. Justin Ridge, who has storyboarded and directed landmark episodes of ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’, will step into the role from here on out. A major shake up like this has caused many fans to worry, but Lucasfilm quickly issued a statement to explain the situation:
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“Dave is still just as involved as ever – overseeing all aspects of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ production as Executive Producer and occasionally directing episodes. In many ways, mentoring Justin and moving him into the role as Supervising Director has made it possible for Dave to be even more immersed in the writing and story structure of the show as well as creatively overseeing future animation development. Justin started with Lucasfilm Animation on the first season of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and worked with Dave before that on ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, so they’ve been working together for quite some time.”
The most important thing to take away from the official statement is that Filoni will not only continue to work on the popular Disney XD series, but he’ll also have his hands in all the animated ‘Star Wars’ projects from here on out as well. It’s almost as if he has now become the Lucasfilm Animation version of George Lucas (prior to selling off his company), which is such great news considering how much knowledge and reverence he has of this universe. There’s no doubt that seriously awesome stuff could come of this development. But while we wait to see exactly what happens, let us know in the comments below what sort of animated ‘Star Wars’ projects you’d like to see Filoni work on next.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Ben F. Silverio received a degree from Drexel University in the Screenwriting and Playwriting Program with a minor in Television Production. While at Drexel, Ben co-founded and co-hosted a film review show called The Pretentious Film Majors, which has evolved into a multi-format form of entertainment including blogs, podcasts on iTunes, articles in the school paper, and a potential tv show. Now armed with an extremely expensive piece of paper, Ben can begin climbing the treacherous ladder of the entertainment industry, which he hopes to do while streaming WWE wrestling matches, reading Marvel comics, and blogging about the excessive amount of movies and tv shows that he watches, all on the iPhone that is permanently attached to his hand.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.