George Lucas created Star Wars and worked on the space adventure for decades. His six films laid out the tale of Darth Vader and completed the story of the chosen one. Lucas’ plans for sequels never panned out as he sold Lucasfilms and the rights to Star Wars to Disney. But, before that, Lucas directed three prequel films to the original ones and created The Clone Wars television series, which expanded the story arcs between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. On the latter, Lucas offered Dave Filoni a job, which started Filoni’s long-standing relationship with the franchise.

Since then, Filoni has remained in close collaboration with George Lucas and risen to higher creative and executive ranks at Lucasfilms. He is currently involved with almost all Disney+ live-action projects set in the Star Wars franchise. But it was with George Lucas that he started his journey from being a Star Wars fan to one of the visionary creators of the franchise.

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In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Filoni discussed his experience working with George Lucas. When The Mandalorian co-director Jon Favreau was talking about his admiration for Lucas, he pointed out that Filoni and Lucas share a great collaborative approach that stems from their 12-year-long work on Star Wars. To this, Filoni added how he felt like taking a masterclass every time he worked on sets with Lucas. He further said that it was like a true Jedi experience, and he tries to apply those gains in his current work.

His experience with Lucas has indeed landed him an outstanding achievement as he now serves as Executive Creative Director of Lucasfilms, closely supervising the execution of shows like The Mandalorian, as well as The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Filoni has worked for two Creative Arts Daytime Emmy for his work on The Clone Wars and has been nominated for Golden Globes and Primetime Emmy for his work on The Mandalorian.

I mean, it was a masterclass every day. It was a masterclass. So I’m trying to apply that every day and pass on what I’ve learned. I mean, it is the Jedi experience I’ve had. And so honestly, that’s probably my biggest responsibility now, is to try to explain to people what George explained to me about why this all works, why it’s different and unique from any other fantasy series or fiction out there… George leant into a unique point of view, and it’s something that we have to take care of and work on again, and again, and again.

George Lucas’ Contribution to Star Wars Lives On

     Drew Struzan

Even after George Lucas departed from Star Wars after Disney acquired Lucasfilms, his ‘masterclass’ devotion to the franchise still lives on. All the stories that have expanded Star Wars at Disney have been possible because of Lucas. Though the new stories introduce new characters, they use the same backdrop, locations, and arcs that Lucas’ six films established. Even The Clone Wars takes primary center stage in stories and character interpretations that are now being adapted into live-action. He has further visited several times on the sets of The Mandalorian to give his input to Filoni and Favreau, further strengthening his association with his creative genius.

And he might not control the final decisions; all Star Wars creators have acknowledged his amazingly creative and technical contributions to the franchise. His name still pops up in all Star Wars-associated interviews. And hopefully, with his cursory involvement in other projects, his name and legacy will continue to associate with the tremendous space-adventure franchise.