Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni provides an update on his upcoming Star Wars movie, explaining why development is taking so long. At Star Wars Celebration Japan, Filoni spoke with Collider and talked about the film, which is set in the New Republic Era. When discussing his process, he shared that his preference to “work on very large arcs” means he has to keep things flexible when figuring out various projects he’s involved with. For instance, he noted that development on Ahsoka Season 2 could influence storylines for the film, so he doesn’t want to lock anything in place until he’s ready. He described his approach at striking the right balance between working on the present and thinking about the future.
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“It’s a long development. One of the reasons why is I like to work on very large arcs, and I try to factor in all the things that I’m creating simultaneously and look at them and say, ‘Well, how do we do unique things? What are unique set pieces, and where is the story going? What’s the play of the story?’” Filoni said. “I ask myself these questions. I have general outlines for all these things, general timelines for all these things. I keep moving the pieces on the board for a big strategy. That’s the way I’ve always worked since I started on Clone Wars, and I got to the end of that series finally.”
He added, “So, right now, I’ll be on Season 2 [of Ahsoka], and as those stories develop, it might change things that would affect what’s happening in the future and what I would do.“
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Along with James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order, Filoni’s film was first announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023. It is set to serve as a culmination for storylines that have transpired on Star Wars Disney+ series such as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Filoni has said in the past he’s tackling Ahsoka Season 2 first before turning his attention to making the movie.
Information about Filoni’s movie has been hard to come by. Earlier this year, rumors suggested characters from Star Wars: Skeleton Crew could appear. Ahsoka Season 2 begins filming soon and doesn’t have a release date as of this writing, so it will probably be some time before official details are shared.
Filoni’s reasoning makes perfect sense. Unlike Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, which is a standalone story, Filoni’s movie is narratively connected to other Star Wars projects. It’s important for him to make sure all the pieces are in the right place, and that can only happen if he takes his time. It’s also better to keep things fluid, allowing those other shows and movies to develop organically on their own without being boxed in to hit certain plot points. Since the film is following Ahsoka Season 2, it’s only logical to wait until the season is complete before going full steam ahead on the movie. As eager as fans are to see Filoni’s film (which should tell an Heir to the Empire-esque story with Thrawn as the main villain), rushing things would be detrimental to the creative team and the fans.
This New Republic movie is seemingly positioned to be a grand finale of sorts. It’s unknown if there will be a Mandalorian Season 4 after next year’s The Mandalorian & Grogu, and an Ahsoka Season 3 hasn’t been announced yet. Filoni’s film could be the endgame for this era of Star Wars storytelling, which only makes being patient that much more important. After following these characters and narrative threads for so many years across multiple seasons of TV, it would be a shame if it led to an underwhelming conclusion. Fortunately, Filoni is aware of that and has the ideal approach to developing his film.
