Star Wars: Ahsoka writer, director, and producer Dave Filoni once shared the story of the moment when George Lucas initially pitched Askoka Tano to the Star Wars: The Clone Wars creative team. The whole experience comes across as being an amusing “that’s so George Lucas” kind of thing.
George Lucas just liked awesome ideas and if he had an idea that he liked, he would push it forward and work out all of the other details later. It didn’t matter what came before, and when it came to Ahsoka, he pushed that Anakin Skywalker had a padawan, even though he didn’t.
It was never mentioned in the prequel trilogy or anywhere else that Anakin had a padawan. While a guest on Rebel Force Radio, Dave Filoni discussed the moment Lucas pitched his “pretty big bump in the road.” Filoni said:
“I remember saying to George I said, ‘Well, you know, Anakin doesn’t have a Padawan. Let’s put it realistically here, I mean, you know, he says, ‘Anakin Skywalker has a Padawan.’ And then Henry Gilroy and I kind of look at each other like, ‘Okay. Um. But, no. Anakin doesn’t have a Padawan.’ And he just kind of paused and looked at both of us, and then he said, ‘Anakin has a Padawan.’“
Filoni added:
“I suppose I could go on arguing this point in and out and bring the textbooks in, but, you know, I preferred the choice to say, ‘Well, okay, why does he want to do that and let me talk about it with him and let’s see where we can go with this.'”
In the end, Filoni understood that this was going to be significant for the history of the Star Wars franchise. He went on to say: “I really like Ahsoka. You know, she’s become one of my favorite characters,” but admitted Ahsoka was “a struggle to fight for and get up on screen” because of the backlash from some of the fans.
Now, Ahsoka is a fan-favorite character and she’s got her very own live-action series! Ahsoka is one of my favorite Star Wars characters and she has one of the most complete and extensive story arcs in the franchise. George Lucas knew exactly what he was doing.
Via: /Film
