Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, photographed exclusively for Empire at Manhattan Beach Studios, Los Angeles, on 1 December 2022.
• PORTRAITS DYLAN COULTER
JON FAVREAU AND DAVE FILONI TALK A LOT
Pretty much every day, in fact. And by and large, when they do they only have one thing on their minds: Star Wars. Specifically, the corner of the Star Wars universe that has become their domain since they combined forces in 2019 to launch The Mandalorian. Since then, the cultural impact of Mando, Baby Yoda/The Child/ Grogu/Whatever You Want To Call Him, and the rest has meant that Favreau — the film director-turned-showrunner, who writes virtually every episode of The Mandalorian — and Filoni — Lucasfilm’s animation ambassador, creator of the Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows and characters like Ahsoka Tano, Cad Bane and Bo-Katan Kryze, who have all made the leap to live-action — now have an expanded portfolio of shows to supervise. This includes The Book Of Boba Fett, the upcoming Ahsoka (starring Rosario Dawson as Filoni’s most-lauded character, Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice), and Jon Watts’ Skeleton Crew.
The Mandalorian, though, is still their main focus. Season 2 ended with the emotional gut-punch of surrogate father-son Mando and Grogu parting ways, a blow eased somewhat by a cameo appearance from a young Luke Skywalker, who showed up at the end to kick all kinds of Imperial ass and take Grogu for Jedi training. Besides, the separation was almost immediately reversed in 2021’s The Book Of Boba Fett, in which Grogu turned his back on the teachings of the Jedi to gambol giddily around the galaxy with his be-helmeted dad. Empire caught up with them recently, and can confirm that Favreau and Dave Filoni not only talk a lot — they talk a lot.