Summary
Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni has explained his own controversial view ofStar Warscanon, which amounts to it being more like “jazz than classical music.” The topic of canon and canonicity has often been a controversial one in theStar Warsfandom. Disney essentially rebootedStar Warscanon after purchasing Lucasfilm, and since then everything has been treated as equal canon - in theory. But canon is difficult to manage, and contradictions are building, leading to many arguingStar Warscanon is broken.
Speaking in an interview with theWGAW podcast, Dave Filoni - George Lucas' protege, and now chief creative officer at Lucasfilm - outlined his own view of canon. In his view,canon is extremely challengingbecause every person comes toStar Warsfrom their own point of view. “I don’t sit there honestly and think that my point of view is greater or better than anybody else’s,” he explains.
“I tend to look at it a little bit like Arthurian tales to be honest, and how depending on what version you’re reading and translation, they can be wildly different. But Arthur’s usually Arthur and does the things he’s supposed to do, those things remain true. And that’s very much folk tale and fairy tale type of ideology. If we tell a story in animation, or if it’s in a comic, and then we bring it to the screen in a different way, we might make changes to it out of the medium, out of the bias of the person making it, but it should still maintain the heart and the important moments of what people liked about that story.”
Although Filoni goes on to discuss the example ofGrand Admiral Thrawn, the comments sound more as though they are relevant to Kanan Jarrus - a character whose origin story was essentially rewritten inStar Wars: The Bad Batchseason 1. The broad brush strokes remained the same, but the heroes of Clone Force 99 were rewritten into the details.
“A Disturbance In The Force”: What Does Dave Filoni’s New Role Mean For Star Wars & Lucasfilm?
George Lucas' protégé, Dave Filoni, is now Lucasfilm’s Chief Creative Officer - but just what does that mean for the future of Star Wars?
Dave Filoni Has A Very Different Understanding Of Canon To The Fanbase
Filonii’s discussion features many digressions, and one of the most intriguing is a brief discussion of canonicity in the old Expanded Universe. There, he claims canonicity was “very cut and dry” - in his view, “the only canonical thing back then was if George Lucas did it.“That may have been Filoni’s view, but it wasn’t the one Lucasfilm encouraged in the fanbase; Lucasfilm execs routinely presented a tiered approach, where Lucas' movies were absolute canon (“G-Level”) and other works were at a second tier, adjusted if necessary to fit in with Lucas.
As he continues, Filoni airs a very different view of the Lucasfilm Story Group’s role to the one held among the fanbase. In his opinion,Lucasfilm shouldn’t be about “policing” the canon- it should be about encouraging creatives. He compares the role to that of the Jedi Council, channeling a range of different perspectives and views into one cohesive flow of thought. If a contradiction is necessary to tell a story, he doesn’t really seem to mind, because all that matters is “Do you like the story? Well then, it’s canon for you.”
Filoni’s comments are summed up neatly by the interviewer: “Star Wars canon as jazz, not classical music.” It’s not fixed, it’s free-flowing and ever-changing, sometimes contradictory, but always a creation made from passion and commitment to the craft and characters. That’s definitely a different perspective to the one held by theStar Warsfanbase, and it may well explain why Lucasfilm don’t seem to mindplot holes and continuity problems inStar Wars.
