Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo Reveal Story Arcs and More at “The Untold Clone Wars” Panel at Star Wars Celebration

Dave Filoni speaking to David W. Collins while Pablo Hidalgo looks on at "The Untold Clone Wars" panel — Dave Filoni speaking to David W. Collins while Pablo Hidalgo looks on at “The Untold Clone Wars” panel

The highlight for me on the first day of the recent Star Wars Celebration was going to “The Untold Clone Wars” panel featuring [my favorite Star Wars personalities,] Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo. I knew ahead of time that it was going to be the best part of that day’s happenings at Star Wars Celebration (yes, I know there was the second teaser trailer for “The Force Awakens” and a real BB8 on-stage that morning and I also watched episodes I and II in 3D, but this panel was still the best), which is also why I made absolutely sure I made it in to listen to the panel. Actually, along with some other convention-goers, we formed a line before an official line was formed; I think the wait was well worth it.

Sketch of Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress together

Filoni and Hidalgo seemed oddly, yet happily surprised by the turnout and excitement about their panel. It was clear that the audience was not only excited to hear from Filoni and Hidalgo, but also ravenously hungry for any further “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” materials or stories that had not gotten properly developed before the show got ended.

Sketch for new haircut for Asajj Ventress

Filoni started off by saying that they had a bunch of stuff left over and thought they would share it and this was a good opportunity to do so. The audience was hungry. They started off by showing some sketches and then some concept art, which they did throughout. However, the most exciting elements of the session were five scenes in story reel form, a couple of which even had voiceovers, just as we had seen with the “Crystals on Utapau” story arc:

Cad Bane and Boba Fett, with them fighting Tusken raiders (with voice-over): the story behind this is that Cad Bane and Jango Fett had had a rivalry to see which one was a better bounty hunter, but once Jango got killed, Bane wanted to see if he could get Boba to be as good as his father and then compete against him
Wookiees and clone troopers riding big, monkey-like creatures, engaging in fighting with big mantis-like creatures: apparently, Wookiees have a close relationship with nature and these huge monkeys, specifically, while the clone troopers in this scene are from the Bad Batch
Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress, showing their meeting after having chased the same subject: having only appeared in one episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, this arc would have been a good opportunity to see more of Vos; also, we see Ventress with hair and dressed differently
Count Dooku facing off against bounty hunters, Boba Fett (in his Episode V armor!), Embo, Latts Razzi, and Cad Bane: not sure what’s going on beyond the scene, but it is a cool battle where Dooku owns them
Ahsoka Tano on a speeder bike on Coruscant (with voice-over): what happens to Ahsoka after she leaves the Jedi Order? Well, she’s a teenager and has a lot of learning to do….

Concept art for Oppo Rancisis' light saber — Concept art for Oppo Rancisis’ light saber

These were definitely enjoyed by all, especially to see some further development of what could have been with “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” on-screen. Of course, I (and, who knows, maybe others) am so fascinated as to how far along they are with their story reels on these story arcs, since they clearly have these scenes and maybe other episodes out there that could be shared with the fans.

A few extra highlights:

Filoni said that the end of the series was planned to have correspond with “Revenge of the Sith” and, perhaps, even further, focussing on certain clones as well as Ahsoka
They showed a sketch of stone head tumbled on the ground – he and Lucas thought that, since Coruscant had been built up upon multiple levels of civilization, that there would be some ruins from previous Force worshippers, maybe even some sort of Sith temple
In responding to a fan question about the kyber crystal that was in the “Crystals on Utapau” story arc – was it meant to power the Death Star?, Hidalgo said that was the intent of the Separatists, but it may not have eventually gone on to power the Death Star (it was interesting, since Hidalgo did not give a straightforward answer)

It was certainly exciting to have had this material revealed to us fans, especially since we’re still looking for more “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” material, but it was certainly a special treat and it was very enjoyable!