Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025: Lucasfilm Animation’s 20th Anniversary
The storytellers of Star Wars animation can always be counted on to deliver a great panel at Star Wars Celebration, and 2025 in Japan proved no exception. This year the panel had a special purpose: celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation, as counted from the studio’s founding by George Lucas in the wake of Revenge of the Sith to begin work on what became The Clone Wars animated series that launched a few years later.
The panel began with a featurette video, subsequently published on YouTube, about that legacy. Host David Collins, a longtime Lucasfilm employee now at Skywalker Sound, reminded the audience that he had hosted the first animation panel at Celebration IV in Los Angeles in 2007. He then introduced Dave Filoni and Athena Portillo, both of whom have worked at Lucasfilm Animation for two decades. Throughout the discussion they shared anecdotes about the history of Lucasfilm Animation and the continual improvements to its production process from The Clone Wars to Star Wars Rebels to the current Tales of anthology series. Late in the panel they turned to the present and future: a screening of “A Way Forward” starring Asajj Ventress, the first of the Tales of the Underworld episodes; unveiling a densely illustrated poster featuring countless characters from all twenty years of Lucasfilm Animation; and revealing a teaser trailer for the next Star Wars animated series, Maul: Shadow Lord, coming in 2026.
Like usual, though, the best moments of the panel were not the nuggets of history or glimpses of the future, but rather the discussions of theme, story, and franchise management. On several occasions previously, Filoni had shared rough animatic footage from unfinished episodes of The Clone Wars, and this year it was another brief clip from the erstwhile Season Six “Boba Fett” arc showing Anakin Skywalker chasing the young Fett through the skies of Corsucant, apparently after another assassination attempt against Mace Windu. While introducing the clip, Filoni explained that the premise of the arc was Cad Bane teaching Boba to become a “really ruthless bounty hunter,” the symbolic bad father leading Boba astray after the loss of his good father Jango. Later Filoni explained how the clone storylines in The Clone Wars were built around the underlying theme that, under the Jedi the clones who are all genetically identical become individuals, while under the Empire the stormtroopers who are genetically different all become the same. Describing a Disney executive’s inquiry about whether Darth Vader could be added as a character to Star Wars Rebels, Filoni related his answer at the time: that “we could do that,” but Vader is “very evil” at that point in the timeline, and if he appears then “the whole show changes” because the Rebels protagonist don’t stand a chance against him.
Also as in previous panels, the importance of the legacy of George Lucas to the present and future of Star Wars animation – and all of Star Wars storytelling – became a recurring theme. Laughing about how Lucas instructed them to completely redo “Landing at Point Rain” and the other war-story episodes in that arc of The Clone Wars, Filoni recalled Lucas telling him “you’ll figure it out” before Filoni realized that he was right, “it’s going to be better.” Filoni still follows the mantra of CBB: “could be better.” Portillo remembered the same experience as one that led her to, rather than saying “no” to a seeming insurmountable request, adopting the mindset of saying “let’s see what we can do.” In discussing Vader in Star Wars Rebels, Filoni emphasized the importance of keeping the character “true to his nature” and to Lucas’ “overarching plan” for Vader’s character arc, because otherwise “without realizing” it a storyteller inadvertently “can change things that impact” the character’s overall portrayal in the saga. In reference to The Bad Batch, Filoni noted that the idea for a spinoff series featuring Clone Force 99 was an idea that came from Lucas, and that “honoring what George wanted is important to me.” At its core, much of Filoni’s involvement in Lucasfilm Animation today is to “teach everyone else in the division what George taught me.”
Ultimately, though, the future of Star Wars storytelling is now under Filoni’s auspices as Chief Creative Officer. At one point, almost as an aside, he admitted that “I have a big timeline with a plan” for many stories he wants to tell. Whether in animation or his live-action Ahsoka series, Filoni emphasized that he wants to “include all of Star Wars” in his tales, believing that “Star Wars works best with it’s a total community” that encompasses “all of it.”
Related Links:
- Lucasfilm Animation 20th Anniversary featurette (Star Wars YouTube)
B.J. has served as editor of FANgirl Blog from its inception, as well as contributing reviews and posts on a range of topics. He edited Tricia’s novel Wynde, and is collaborating with her on several future projects set in that original universe.
Currently a tenured law professor in Florida, B.J. has been a practicing lawyer in Washington, D.C., a law clerk to a federal appeals court judge, and a law journal editor-in-chief. He is also a proud geek dad whose son who is a big fan of Star Wars and The Clone Wars.
