In a recent interview Dave Filoni talks transitioning Ahsoka from animation to live-action. Read on for what he had to say. I think many fans will remember back in the day that an animated Rebels sequel was rumored. At the time LRM were I think the first outlet to go against this rumor. That was because we had heard this would now all happen in live-action. History speaks for itself. However, I do recall the fan base calling us out on this at the time as peddling false information. Here’s that Post.
The question remains though, at which point was this story transitioned into live-action? In the interview below Filoni talks about how he didn’t even know what Jon Favreau was planing when Kathy Kennedy first suggested they work together. Both were developing stories around the same time period and Kennedy felt the pair should work together. Born from that was the MandoVerse and cross overs between the story Favreau was telling and where Filoni wanted the next chapter of Rebels to go.
Now it’s pretty clear that the Rebels sequel is Ahsoka. After all, we already know Sabine and Hera return, along with Chop. We know Ezra Bridger has been cast and appears and it’s highly likely so does Thrawn. In other words, Ahsoka is what happened next after that Rebels epilogue. Here is what Filoni said when he spoke to io9.
Did Filoni Know The Rebels Sequel Would Be Live-Action?
“That’s an interesting question,” Filoni replied to io9. “I would say that, you know, because of working with George, I saw a possibility of working in live action where I’d never seen it before. I didn’t know if that was something for me. But after working with him for so long and the way he taught me and then Kathy [Kennedy] coming into the company, one of the first things she and I talked about was, ‘Is there potential for me to get exposure to live-action and what does that look like?’ And so, of course, that was right when we began producing Rebels.”
“The most important job I had at the beginning of this whole transition of Lucasfilm and Disney was to get that show up and running and to make sure that’s a strong title for us coming out of the gate. But, you know, as I was watching J.J. [Abrams] and Rian [Johnson] and Gareth [Edwards] and all these different people coming in and exploring live-action, I was able, thanks to Kathy, to get exposure to that type of production and what that’s like. And so it was incredibly exciting and interesting.”
A bit of a non answer. It sounds to me like Filoni had desires for live-action, was learning from top professionals, but didn’t yet have that greenlit ticket to make something.
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“I mean, I love animation,” Filoni continued. “I love what I do there, but I think creatively as an artist, you have to be constantly pushing yourself into new ways of telling your story or expressing yourself through [different] mediums. And it became something that I was interested in. I just had no idea if I’d be good at it. It’s different.”
However that opportunity arose when he was put in a room with Jon Favreau who was developing a live-action series called The Mandalorian.
“There are similarities in the production pipeline Jon was working with,” Filoni said. “Thanks to his work on Lion King and Jungle Book, there was a lot of crossover with what he was developing in animation. And so for me, it was a little more of a natural fit where I could get confident with an incredibly talented crew.”
Was The Rebels Sequel Ever Animated?
Maybe it was at one point, however the way Filoni talks here, it doesn’t sound like it was far along. I think if there was a period of transitioning Ahsoka from animation to live-action, it was done at the concept stage. That’s a far cry from the claims made back in the day that animation had been completed for some episodes and that voice lines had already been recorded.
“At the time that I did the epilogue in Rebels, I had an idea of what this story would be. And it was definitely… so all of that, to just answer the question, I would say ‘Yes.’ It was definitely an option in my mind that, wow, this could be live-action if I go forward with this.”
“But there were a lot of things in that ‘if,’” he continued. “Which was can I tell the story as well? What does that look like? What’s the budget like? Who’s going to play these characters? There are so many unknowns. But it was definitely on the table as well as just continuing in animation.”
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“You have to decide what’s best for the story,” Filoni said. “And I think, we found, you know, whatever my story is about [in] Ahsoka, I’m very pleased.”
“And, you know, I didn’t know Jon would be doing Mandalorian at the time when I did that epilogue,” Filoni added. “That was all in motion, but I didn’t understand Ahsoka’s role in it, certainly. But I do know this time period because I grew up with a lot of Expanded Universe material in it. And so I think that’s also been an influence on what the future holds for everyone existing post-Return of the Jedi.”
There you have it folks, Dave Filoni talks transitioning Ahsoka from animation to live-action. However form what he says it seems highly unlikely he had already started making an animated show which was then scrapped in favor of live-action. Though, who an say for sure other than Filoni, who doesn’t like to give a clear answer? As always, let us know what you think below.
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