Latest news with #DaveFiloni
Gizmodo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Temuera Morrison Thinks ‘Star Wars' Isn't Done With Boba Fett Yet
Just when The Mandalorian brought him back and teased big things for him, Boba Fett got kind of a raw deal once his own show dropped. Disney's not given it a second season or even so much as mentioned it, to the point just last year, star Temuera Morrison was unsure about his character's future. But maybe things are at a point to where it could be his time once more? While promoting his current film Ka Whawhai Tonu (In The Fire of War), Collider asked Morrison what the deal was. Along with going 'where's my season 2?,' he suggested coming in for Ahsoka's second season to play an older version of Ahsoka's clone trooper buddy Rex. More interestingly, he mentioned seeing Mandalorian co-creators Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau at Star Wars Celebration, where they had a group hug and he thanked them for letting him come back as Boba Fett. Morrison then teased the pair 'didn't want to say too much, but they just left it at that.' Whatever that means, the actor likens his and the bounty hunter's stasis as going to your grandmother's and seeing 'that preservative jar of peaches up on the shelf. I'm one of those peaches, and I've been put up on the shelf. I've been preserved for a later date, and I'm going to be tastier.' To support Morrison's point, there's a few Favreau and Filoni-adjacent avenues for him to return, including another animated anthology miniseries or next year's Maul: Shadow Lord series. Even if he doesn't make it into Ahsoka's next season or whatever Mandalorian & Grogu ends up, we're likely to see the actor or Boba back sooner or later.
Geek Tyrant
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Lucasfilm "Likely" Replacing Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm with Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck — GeekTyrant
It looks like big changes are brewing at Lucasfilm. According to a new reprot from The Hollywood Reporter about the shifting power dynamics at Disney, Kathleen Kennedy's time as president of Lucasfilm is winding down, and the studio may be headed in a new, but familiar, direction. The names being floated to 'likely' replace her are Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck. Filoni currently serves as Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm and is also producing several Star Wars TV and film projects. The report notes: 'The current thinking is a scenario where chief creative officer Dave Filoni and production head Carrie Beck — both Lucasfilm vets — take co-head roles. Even as an arm of Disney, Lucasfilm remains, in many ways, a family business, and as a George Lucas protégé Filoni long has been considered a golden boy.' Filoni's rise is no surprise to anyone who's followed Star Wars since The Clone Wars . His creative connection to George Lucas and the way he's carried forward that legacy with Rebels , The Mandalorian , and Ahsoka has earned him a loyal following, and he's their guy. However, not everyone in the room is sold. The same THR piece offers this commentary: 'But the knock against him is that he might be too steeped in Star Wars lore and risks steering a show into dense mythology that loses a broader audience. 'He's not the Andor guy, he's the Ahsoka guy,' says one Disney insider. 'Beck, who joined the company in 2012, knows the ins and outs, but neither she nor Filoni has much film experience, which could be mitigated by Kennedy's continued presence as a producer on certain Star Wars projects, ensuring quality control in the short term.' That's a fair point. While Filoni thrives in the animated and live-action series space, Star Wars hasn't exactly had a smooth run on the big screen lately, and neither he nor Beck has much experience steering theatrical releases. That's where Kennedy may linger for a while longer, potentially sticking around to produce key projects and maintain consistency as they transition. Still, fans online are already drawing battle lines. For many, the idea of a 'Lucas guy' who lives and breathes Star Wars mythology is exactly what Lucasfilm needs. After all, the most frustrating part of the franchise's modern era has often been its uneven grasp of what makes Star Wars feel like Star Wars . And yet… Andor exists. It's a perfect example of what Star Wars can be when it steps outside of the mythological comfort zone, when it slows down, digs into real human struggles, and reimagines the galaxy far, far away with grounded stakes. So here we are, at a crossroads. Lucasfilm seems like they are preparing to pass the lightsaber to two trusted veterans who've built their reputations inside the galaxy. The next era of Star Wars is about to begin, and even if Filoni isn't taking the lead, as continuing CCO, the franchise is going to have Filoni's fingerprints all over it.
Geek Tyrant
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
AHSOKA Season 2 Star Rory McCann Talks About Playing Baylan Skoll: "I Think It's the Right Decision" — GeekTyrant
Game of Thrones actor Rory McCann is officially stepped into the role of Baylan Skoll for Ahsoka Season 2, a character originally portrayed by the late Ray Stevenson, whose performance left a powerful impression on fans. Speaking for the first time about taking on the role, McCann opened up with a mix of humility, excitement, and reverence for what came before. McCann told ComicBook: "I think it's the right decision to carry on his storyline, not just cut it off. We've done it before with other things. I hope the fans embrace it and I'll do my best. 'I'm just starting now, so I'm just trying to be in the right zone for doing it. It's pretty bloody exciting. I mean, I remember being a kid with my dad, going to the first one probably in the late '70s and '80s. Now I'm training with a lightsaber at night, so it's pretty exciting." McCann's casting was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration 2025, and it feels like a natural move when you consider his previous roles playing gritty, intense, and quietly complex characters. His towering screen presence and gravitas could bring something unique to Baylan, while still honoring what Stevenson began. Series creator Dave Filoni also spoke about the challenge of continuing Baylan's arc after Stevenson's passing, saying it wasn't a decision he made lightly. 'It was a challenge for me to even consider continuing for a while. But I have a great support group with Jon [Favreau] and Rosario [Dawson]. And I found a way, and I had Ray in my head. 'And [I'm] grateful for all those conversations with him about Baylan, so I understood what to do. It just took a while to get there. But I'm very confident now that Ray would be happy with the direction of the character that we've chosen.' Stevenson gave a standout performance in Ahsoka Season 1, crafting a character who was mysterious, powerful, and on the verge of something big. After he passed away, there was a heavy question mark hanging over the future of the show. But now, with McCann wielding the orange-bladed saber, the story moves forward. Star Wars Celebration also teased a few other big reveals: Hayden Christensen is officially returning as Anakin Skywalker in season 2, and Admiral Ackbar will be going toe-to-toe with Grand Admiral Thrawn. Footage shown behind closed doors offered a concept-art sizzle reel paired with voice-over that hinted at massive battles and a galaxy-spanning conflict. There's no official release date for Ahsoka Season 2 yet, but between Christensen's return, Thrawn's rising threat, and Rory McCann training with a lightsaber under the stars, the Force feels strong with this one.
Gizmodo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Star Wars' From Darth Maul's Perspective Sounds Fascinating
When Obi-Wan Kenobi cut Darth Maul in half over 25 years ago, most of us thought that was it. Maul was clearly one of the coolest and most interesting Star Wars characters ever, but George Lucas chose to kill him. However, as fate would have it, the character has now come back time and time again, in large part due to Lucas's protégé Dave Filoni, and soon, we're gonna get way more of him than we ever thought possible. Maul: Shadow Lord, a new animated series, was announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan last month and it'll bring the former Sith Lord back to the forefront in a big, big way. Speaking with fellow Star Wars star Katee Sackhoff, voice of Maul Sam Witwer revealed a few broad clues about what we can expect from the show, including how Maul perceives the plan formulated by his former master, Darth Sidious. 'This is a guy who knew that the Empire was coming, and he was part of that,' Witwer said on The Sackhoff Show. 'He was supposed to be part of the Clone Wars. He was supposed to work with his master, and they were going to bring about the destruction of the Republic and the destruction of his hated enemy, the Jedi Order. He was raised to hate them. He trained his whole life to destroy them. Well, now we have a show where, OK, all of that was done, but Maul, yeah, you killed a bunch of Jedi during the Clone Wars, but you did not work with Sidious. You didn't know the whole plan. And in fact, you got so scared about his plan that you tried to stop it at the last second.' 'Now the Empire's here, which Maul would have known that that was his master's intent,' he continues. 'But now that he's seeing it, he's like, 'Is this what he had in mind? Because this isn't what I thought it would be…' Maul comes from a time of swords and sorcery and magic and knights and now all of that color is being sucked out of the universe by this mechanized empire. And Maul's like, 'Is this right? Is this the universe that we were trying to build?'' That's fascinating, is it not? Seeing the grand plans of Emperor Palpatine through the eyes of someone who worked with him before Darth Vader. Before Count Dooku. Before Grand Moff Tarkin or Grand Admiral Thrawn. Someone who was there at the beginning and is now confused about what he thought the plan was, and what it ended up being. But, as Witwer explains, that's kind of the aim of Maul: Shadow Lord. 'It truly is a show about bad guys versus worse guys,' he said. 'And our bad guys are still bad guys. This isn't going to be a show where you go, oh, you find out Maul is just a real teddy bear, man. He's just misunderstood… But the idea is, in fact, that even though he's a bad guy, is he as bad as Sidious or Vader? And the answer is actually no. From the Sith perspective, this guy has flaws. And these flaws are… the humanity that seeps in at various points. And some of this is humanity he did not have maybe early in Clone Wars. But because of things that happened to him, he's rethought a lot of things.' Rethinking things is part of what is making Maul: Shadow Lord work too. Witwer explained that, as he was working with Filoni on Clone Wars and Rebels, they'd come up with ideas for Maul that they loved, but couldn't fit in the show. Now, all those ideas are coming back. 'There were ideas that I had back in Clone Wars that I would present to Dave, or even in Rebels,' Witwer said. 'And I also know things that Dave wanted to do. And Dave would go, 'We're going to cut this part out of the script that I have that I like so much because this isn't Maul's show.' Or I'd say, 'Dave, what if this happens?' And he goes, 'It's not Maul's show. You can't go into that little level of detail. We're seeing this from Ezra's perspective or Ahsoka's perspective.' And every time he said, 'This isn't Maul's show,' it never occurred to me that Maul could have a show. So I just took those ideas and I'm like, well, I guess we'll never see that. And now he's like, well, it's Maul's show.'' You can watch the full clip below and keep an eye out for Maul: Shadow Lord in 2026.
Geek Tyrant
27-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Tyrant
THE MANDALORIAN Season 4 Might Not Happen; The Franchise's Fate Rests on Box Office Numbers — GeekTyrant
If you're a fan of The Mandalorian , you might want to sit down for this one. According to insider Daniel Richtman, The Mandalorian Season 4 might not be happening at all. The insider claims, 'there won't be a Season 4 of The Mandalorian ,' suggesting that Disney is pivoting away from episodic storytelling and leaning fully into theatrical territory. It's a shift that seems to align with Disney's evolving strategy for Lucasfilm and its overall approach to Star Wars . To be fair, the signs have been there. After The Mandalorian Season 3 wrapped in April 2023, development on Season 4 was delayed, and it was initially blamed on the dual Hollywood strikes. But during that downtime, Disney CEO Bob Iger started reshaping the company's streaming priorities. The result was a focus shifted to The Mandalorian & Grogu , a feature film that's now in the works and is expected to carry the torch for the franchise on the big screen. What happens next might all come down to box office performance. Richtman adds, 'There won't be a Season 4 of The Mandalorian , but if the movie succeeds, a sequel will be made. However, if it flops, it will serve as the final chapter for Mando and could also put [Dave] Filoni's movie at risk.' That's a lot riding on a single movie, not just for Din Djarin and Grogu, but potentially for the entire interconnected storyline Filoni has been crafting across Disney+. This is a pretty big change, especially considering how The Mandalorian practically built the foundation for Star Wars on streaming. It launched in 2019 and quickly became the face of Disney+, redefining how Star Wars stories could be told. It spun off characters, helped launch shows like Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett . Still, from Disney's point of view, theatrical might just make more financial sense right now. Moving major Star Wars titles to theaters could be an attempt to refocus the brand and boost profits in a crowded streaming landscape. But it's a gamble. Fans didn't invest teir time in three seasons of The Mandalorian just for it to be wrapped up with one movie. There's still a lot of emotional and narrative ground left to cover. So while nothing is officially confirmed, there's a chance we may have seen the last of The Mandalorian as a Disney+ series. Whether that's a savvy pivot or a major misstep depends entirely on how The Mandalorian & Grogu performs when it hits theaters. The Mandalorian & Grogu hits theaters May 22, 2026.
