The Clone Wars writer-director opens up about his long-awaited series finale and the future of Ahsoka Tano.
The Clone Warsis also, perhaps, the most gorgeous-looking animated TV series ever made.
The show feels exactly like classicStar Wars(if a live-action film had an endless budget).
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, what excites you about the final two episodes ofClone Wars?
DAVE FILONI:I guess that we are bringing this to a close.
I find that exciting.
I’ve been through it before withRebels.
It helps frame the rest of the work.
It feels like it gives it a purpose.
And it seems like that’s coming across, from what people are saying.
There are a lot of questions fans have that the final episodescouldanswer.
Which questions are the ones you think are important for your show to address?
Those are some key things I had to do inRebels.
You know,Rebelswasn’t about just making a story that wound up running intoRogue OneorA New Hope.
It was about telling a story about a kid and his family.
When people watchRevenge of the Sithafter watching your finale, will they see the film differently in some respects?
I suppose that’s inevitable.
I’m privy to details other people aren’t.
That their vision is clouded.
I was always very interested in those scenes.
I was very interested in what the Jedi were like in this era.
So it’s just a challenge not getting something chronologically out of order.
Luckily I’ve watched those movies a lot, so I think it all works out.
But yeah, I did some fun things there.
Because I think that alone is a valid question: Where were these guys?
Ahsoka seemed like she was important, so was she invited to join the Sith?
There’s an element of that, for sure.
And you get a perspective on how the clones have grown.
They are the most unique, so much so now that they’re even looking different physically.
The Republic isn’t what it was.
Maybe there’s some lost perspective.
These are questions that we were exploring before the first end of theClone Wars.
But they were valid things that you need them to understand going into the end of things.
What’s something we’ve seen that he had a specific comment about?
That’s largely been taken out of context in people’s enthusiasm.
George and I still talk, and I’ll ask him some things.
But he’s just really enjoying watching them.
What’s in play are things we had discussed years ago.
These last four episodes were probably the least developed of what we had done.
There are elements that were always the same.
Like the Siege of Mandalore.
We knew Ahsoka went there to confront Darth Maul.
I even had versions of those stories.
He hadn’t really seen anything until you’re releasing it here.
So I check in with him time to time.
He was teaching what he thought made this work and what didn’t.
One little mistake can ruin a lot of things.
So hopefully I got it more right than not.
I mean, I wouldn’t talk much about that anyway.
There’s a lot of groundwork laid already.
I can’t wait to see what happens with many of them.
I’ve been here for a while, but I’m still a fan of it all.
To what degree will your bridge the gap with what we know fromThe Mandalorian?
Those are really interesting questions, and fascinating and valid.
But I don’t know if the job of this story is to bridge that.
This story should be about what these characters need and what their wants are.
It wasn’t like one of the primary goals.
I’ll bring those things up, and we talk all the time.
Is the finale the same length as regular episodes, or are you going super-sized with that one?
I’m like in the Yoda school: “Size matters not.”
A lot of these episodes have been longer than what fans are used to.
NormalClone Warsepisodes were 22 minutes.
These have all been a bit expanded.
I looked at it as four parts to tell this one big complete story.
And each part is a considered stage of what’s important.
You’re also in post-production onThe Mandalorianseason 2.
How would you describe it compared to the first season?
It’s a lot of fun.
Maybe that’s just me reacting to making it.
I wrote inClone Wars"experience outranks everything," and I need to get some.
So it was a great learning experience, working with a great team of people, working with Jon.
I’ve applied what I’ve learned into the second season to the best of my abilities.
We’re looking forward to sharing it with everybody when we’re finished.
What can tell us aboutyour live-action Ahsoka?
Over the years people have always asked me about that character and potential live-action possibilities.
We would want to see that."
And the debates that surround that.
It seemed a bit out of left field and risky.
George always knew that it would work if we did it the right way.
So whatever the future holds, who knows?
But for now, we’ll get to see this ending ofClone Warsand see how that goes.
