STAR WARS Animation Producer Dave Filoni Opens Up About The Pressure of Bringing THE CLONE WARS Back
Star Wars fans were super excited to hear that Star Wars: The Clone Wars was coming back for one more season to give the series a proper conclusion! It was the biggest surprise announcement to come out of Comic-Con this year.
As producer Dave Filoni and his team are developing the series, he opens up about the pressure of bringing the series back and continuing to craft the story. While talking to CB about that pressure, he said:
"With Clone Wars, I will say there is a bit of pressure because, obviously from [the reaction to the new season], the people loved it. I mean, they grew up with it. It was massive. So I do feel the pressure of wanting to make something amazing for them, and I challenge myself to not take the easy outs in the story and not do simple things."
The Clone Wars served as an introduction to the Star Wars franchise to a generation of young fans. It was also great for the rest of the long-time fans to have some stories told that take place between the events of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. It focused on the adventure of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and the fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano. Filoni goes on to discuss the story and how they are working with material that they had written in the past. He also talks about how he has evolved as a storyteller:
"We're also working at certain points with some material that we had written in the past, and so I've gone back and looked at it because I'm a different storyteller, and I think a better storyteller now. And how do we improve things, you ask yourself. I mean, we do that every season, in all honesty, so, in the last season, Rebels should be significantly better than the first. And the same is true for Clone Wars. So now how do I take a show that we stopped making five years ago and make it better than it was? That's the challenge. We're not just recreating it. We are continuing it, and we have to make it better."
He goes on to say that as far as the direction of the story goes, he follows his gut instinct:
"I would say everything I do is always more gut. I mean, I like to think that, at heart, I'm still a fan despite having done this for a long time. And that you just hope when you tell a story that people like the story you're telling, as well."
That's all you can really gamble on because I can't make a story necessarily for somebody else, in a way. You know what I mean? I can't take a bunch of data and, 'Well, people are into this, let's do it.' I think some people are very gifted at that, but it doesn't seem to be something that I do. I have to believe in what I'm doing, and what I'm saying, and try to make the characters come to life that way."
I love that Filoni and his team are looking to up the ante and give us an incredible final season to The Clone Wars. I hope they can pull it off! I'm very excited to see where exactly they will take the story and evolve it.
The return of The Clone Wars will debut next year on Disney's streaming service.