There is a degree of truth to the notion that in order to adapt beloved stories and franchises, you have to be a fan of them. It’s important to appreciate the world and the work you are writing within when taking something so beloved on your shoulders, and it is no less true — in fact, it is more true — when you’re creating a new piece of the Star Wars universe. That said, loving the franchise is not necessarily enough. If you simply write more of what audiences saw before, then you run the risk of boring them. At the same time, if you depart too much from the source material or the franchise's brand that fans are familiar with, then you run the risk of irritating or losing them.

Dave Filoni is one such person walking that tightrope, and he has yet to fall. His series, Star Wars: The Clones Wars and The Mandalorian are among the most beloved of Star Wars media. This is in no small part due to his love of the franchise and his following in the footsteps of George Lucas. Now that Lucas has left Star Wars in the hands of Disney, it's Filoni who serves as the main personality behind the franchise. In fact, just last year, Filoni was promoted to Executive Creative Director at Lucasfilm. But how did he go from Star Wars fan to Star Wars creator? This article tracks his professional journey as George Lucas' protégé — or, more appropriately, his Padawan.

Related: Dave Filoni Gets Immortalized as a Star Wars Action Figure

Dave Filoni's Early Career

Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon
MTV Networks

Filoni worked in animation long before his Star Wars debut, working specifically at Nickelodeon. When he got the call to meet Lucas, he couldn't believe it. According to Vanity Fair, he even thought it was a prank. Of course, it wasn't: Filoni went to meet Lucas, and they began a sort of mentor-mentee relationship. Specifically, Filoni was hired to work on a 3D-animated project, which was new ground for Star Wars at the time (hence why he thought it was a prank). According to Looper, Filoni thought that Lucasfilm Animation was a fake name that was made up to sell the joke. He was also likely a little in disbelief due to his love of Star Wars himself, as he even said to the producer who called him about that he had a Jedi costume he was making in his garage at the time.

One particular Nickelodeon show Filoni was working on at the time of the call — a show that immediately should clue people in to the fact that he had what it takes to direct an epic about a war in a fantastical universe — is none other than Avatar: The Last Airbender. Arguably one of the best 2000s animated TV shows, Avatar dealt with themes that would become similar to The Clone Wars.

Directing Star Wars Animation

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Disney Platform Distribution

It's no question that Filoni owes a lot to his time working on the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The series, following the Clone Wars that preceded the formation of the Galactic Empire of the Original Trilogy, afforded Filoni the opportunity to put his love of Star Wars to good use. The show, even in its early days, put a well-needed light on a part of Star Wars lore that wasn't previously explored. Over the course of its seven seasons, the show would mature and develop, dealing with some of the horrors and trauma of galactic war and, more significantly, gift audiences with some of the most beloved characters of the franchise. The Clones especially were well served by Filoni's development as he took what was once a group of fairly interchangeable soldiers and gave them depth and individuality. Many key Star Wars characters came out of the show, like Captain Rex or Asokha Tano, the latter of which has made the jump from animation to live-action, first in The Mandalorian and, next, in her own Disney+ series called Ahsoka.

Filoni also directed Star Wars Rebels, a series that served as a spiritual successor to The Clone Wars and focused on the early years of the Rebel Alliance. Rebels followed in the same footsteps as the previous series, but would focus more consistently on a small group of characters rather than trying to capture the story of an entire war. The show also introduced new characters for fans to latch onto and developed the stories of existing ones like Asokha Tano or Darth Maul. Similarly to Rebels, Filoni also created Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which, heading into its second season, is a direct sequel to The Clone Wars, following an elite group of Clone Troopers who are navigating news territory as a result of Order 66.

Jumping to Live-Action Star Wars Television

Mandalorian Star Wars
Disney Platform Distribution

Just as he did with animated Star Wars television, Filoni was there during the first steps of Disney's live-action Star Wars series. In this new endeavor, Filoni worked with Jon Favreau to bring audiences The Mandalorian. A nod to the influence of westerns on Star Wars, the show stars a Mandalorian bounty hunter who comes to take care of a Force-sensitive child and must protect him from the remnants of the Empire after the fall of the second Death Star. Once again, this fell within Filoni's proven expertise in carving out a niche in Star Wars history, then developing and expanding upon it. Ultimately, The Mandolorian proved to be a runaway success that further cemented Filoni's positive track record with Star Wars. After the second season of The Mandolorian, Filoni worked on The Book of Boba Fett, which followed the adventures of Boba Fett as he becomes a boss in the Tatoonie Underworld. Filoni is also working on the upcoming live-action series following Ahsoka Tano. All of this shows how impactful Filoni has been on Star Wars lore that one of his original characters is getting her own show alongside legends like Obi-Wan and Boba Fett.

The idea that Filoni might represent an heir or successor to the legacy of Lucas has since been floated by a few people. Mark Hamill himself, who played Luke Skywalker, has praised Filoni for being "a wonderfully kind person," and said that he was "George Lucas' Padawan," on his Twitter. The comparison is well-earned: Filoni has been working at the heart of Star Wars for a few years now, and is perhaps one of the few people remaining that connects the disparate halves of Lucas' ambitious original visions and Disney's new direction. Given his promotion last year, it is likely Disney sees this continuity as an asset too.