Dave Filoni talks further about the Rebels finale, the return of Ahsoka and what’s up next with IGN. There’s an interesting bit on how there was a lot of interest in exploring hercontinuing story in other media, where Filoni argues in favor of, basically, delayed gratification:
I always feel strongly that while we can have everything at our fingertips right now, something that made Star Wars so powerful to me growing up was we would go through a long period of time where we wondered what happened to Han Solo. He was stuck in carbonite. Now, everything’s instant. But I think we built a deep love and connection to our characters because, for lack of a better term, we dreamed about what they were going through. We wondered and we anticipated, so when the payoffs came, I think it was a lot better, a lot stronger, so I thought making people wait to find out what happened to Ahsoka just built up her mystique a little bit more, a little bit better until we nailed her down.
He also addresses the challenge of Vader, including the (inevitable?) Ahsoka confrontation, the Inquisitor, the larger Rebel Alliance and more.
UPDATE: The third part of Filoni’s StarWars.com interview is up as well.
While we’re talking Rebels, there’s also a rumor making the rounds about a familiar voice actor returning to play an established (though not unexpected) character.
Witwer also played Palpatine in TFU. I asked him at Dragoncon if he had been considered for the replacement Palpatine in TCW, and he kinda fumbled his answer. I wonder if that is why
I wonder if the generational divide between “watched Star Wars when it came out in theaters and had to wait for the next one” and “watched Star Wars long after it was released” correlates at all to the spoiler wars.
I know many older fen who love spoilers and many younger fen who can’t stand them, so I know it doesn’t track perfectly. BUT, for example, I grew up watching Star Wars. I don’t remember a time before I knew that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. I was too young to be surprised by it when I found out, because I didn’t understand the significance. That experience of having to wait more than a year for the next film was never part of how I experienced Star Wars.
These days, I’m not one to seek out spoilers, but I don’t particularly fret over them. It doesn’t bother me that other people want to know everything they can as soon as they can rather than waiting for the film. I’v always been sorta “why do you care if other people are having fun ‘wrong?'” about the whole thing.
This Filoni quote sorta made something click in my head, though. For folks who did watch the movies as they came out–for whom waiting was part of the magic–maybe they want a fandom that shares in that sense of anticipation with them. Maybe they think that’s integral to the experience.
Me, I’ve been assuming from the start that Ahsoka would show up in Rebels, and I knew who she was before we saw her–but that didn’t stop me from punching the air.
None of which is to say anyone’s ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ on spoilers because oh boy let’s not. But I think Filoni’s statement on this has helped me understand something I didn’t before about why people feel so strongly about them.
I dunno – I recall spoilers being an issue in the PT and before (with the books) but it was really just a matter of adding spoiler space to emails since social media wasn’t an issue.
Honestly, I don’t mind if people are spoiler-free, I just hate being lectured over it (and seeing others lectured) when I/we actually try to keep from spoiling them.