'Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian': When Dave Filoni was asked to join 'Star Wars', he thought it was a prank
Starting with 'The Clone Wars', Dave Filoni has had an extensive influence on the extended 'Star Wars' franchise. His fingerprints are all over the various animated series, and he recently made the jump to live action with 'The Mandalorian'.
With his encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise, his passion for 'Star Wars' storytelling, and his seemingly endless fountain of creativity, he has become an essential part of the 'Star Wars' universe — and yet, he came very close to never being part of the franchise at all.
"I almost didn't get the job, because I thought it was a practical joke," he said while talking with Jon Favreau and the other directors of 'The Mandalorian' on 'Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian.'
Working at Nickelodeon at the time on 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', when Filoni first got the call he believed that it was the guys from the 'Spongebob Squarepants' team who were playing a practical joke on him.
Filoni had been very vocal about his love for 'Revenge of the Sith' and had been picked on for being such a strong 'Star Wars' nerd. Believing the call from Lucasfilm Animation — which was not yet a largely established name — Filoni took on a very sarcastic tone with the producer who called him about working on 'Clone Wars'.
"She's like, 'Well, you've been recommended to us by George [Lucas],'" Filoni said, to which he replied, "Really? George recommended me, huh?" After making the appointment, just before hanging up, Filoni confronted the question of the prank, asking, "Who put you up to this?"
The producer in question reacted with confusion, saying that if this was Dave Filoni, then he was "the guy" she was meant to call — which is when Filoni finally realized that this call was the real deal. "You have no idea how 'the guy' I am," he told her, "I'm so 'the guy'. I have a Jedi costume I'm making in my garage."
"She later told me she wanted to hang up right then and there," Filoni said, "but she already made the appointment, so she kept it." Filoni goes on to describe his first meeting with George Lucas and how he got the job.
The rest is history. Filoni went on to change the landscape of the 'Star Wars' universe as we know it, with highly acclaimed quality storytelling, and he's far from finished. It's strange to imagine what the 'Star Wars' franchise might have looked like without his involvement, but fortunately, no one has to.
The next episode of 'Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian' airs on May 8 on Disney+.