Just a reminder: like Marvel’s various Netflix series combined to create a Defenders crossover series, its sister company Lucasfilm has similar plans for its sprawling Star Wars TV universe. Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy mentioned it back in 2020, but in a new interview with the Wrap the grand overseer of that TV universe, Dave Filoni, essentially confirmed it’s on the way by not confirming it.
“I think that the reality of there being a big event in this time period is very real, is all I would say to that,” is what Filoni said. Apologies for being glib, but we at Gizmodo know how to read between the lines of PR interview-speak, and Filoni talking vaguely about the possibility of a crossover of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and perhaps the upcoming Skeleton Crew heading to one unified story is confirmation enough for us, even if Kennedy hadn’t already discussed it. The fact that Filoni has been weaving his Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons together with his two live-action series to tell one unified story may also have influenced our opinion/certainly that he’s been building his Filoni-verse to something.
Honestly, the entire interview feels somewhat disingenuous, since he states he sees the Star Wars TV universe as Mandalorian co-creator Jan Favreau’s “story and I’m helping to aid him through as George [Lucas] guided me in The Clone Wars,” when The Mandalorian is following up on the Mandalore saga seen in Clone Wars and Rebels while Ahsoka is a direct follow-up to Rebels, as the former Jedi searches for Thrawn and, presumably, Ezra Bridger, who disappeared on a space whale together in the cartoon’s finale. (Don’t ask.) Filoni also said he doesn’t try to bring the characters he created in his various cartoons into live-action, which I personally find very unlikely given that Saw Gerrera, Bo-Katan Kryze, Ahsoka Tano, and Cad Bane have all already made the jump, and Rebels’ Sabine Wren and Thrawn are, at minimum, coming to the Ahsoka series.
It’s worth noting that whatever the plans for the big Star Wars TV crossover might be, Filoni’s tease indicates that they’ve survived the proposed Rangers of the New Republic series, which imploded after Gina Carano famously imploded her career. Whatever ends up happening, you can read the full interview here, or just be as certain as we are that a big Star Wars TV crossover is still on the way.