{"id":1926326,"date":"2026-05-08T18:15:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1926326"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:15:37","slug":"dave-filoni-is-right-about-darth-vader-and-anakin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1926326","title":{"rendered":"Dave Filoni Is Right About Darth Vader and Anakin"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Darth-Vader-Maul-Shadow-Lord-the-Force-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni knows his Star Wars.<\/em> He\u2019s been working in that world for almost 20 years, first with The Clone Wars<\/em>, then Rebels<\/em>, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka<\/em>, and much more. When he sits down to discuss the franchise and the philosophies behind it, it\u2019s a joy to listen to because he gets it in a way few people do. But sometimes, you have to read a few inches below the surface for the full expanse of that knowledge.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Filoni spoke after a screening of the Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> finale in which Darth Vader appears. Vader may be long gone in the movies, but in Star Wars<\/em> television, video games, and comics, he pops up from time to time. Filoni spoke about why it\u2019s important to handle Vader in the right way and what he believes the character is feeling in this specific time frame, which is before the events of A New Hope<\/em>. The full discussion is here, but for purposes of this article, we\u2019ll highlight just this taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key to Vader for me is that he\u2019s not Anakin,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t recognize that. He can\u2019t. Anything that reminds him of Anakin, he\u2019s going to destroy. So when he sees a Jedi, he\u2019s going to destroy the Jedi, because the Jedi would remind him unconsciously or consciously that he betrayed all of his friends and everything he knew and the life he grew up with. For what? For nothing. He lost everything. He made a bad trade. He was lied to. He was deceived. He can\u2019t accept that truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the days since Filoni\u2019s quotes, fans on social media have focused in on that first line: \u201cThe key to Vader for me is that he\u2019s not Anakin.\u201d Some are mad because, obviously, Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader. Why would Filoni say he wasn\u2019t? We watched six movies about that very fact. Well, Filoni isn\u2019t dumb. He knows this. And a little later, he explained it very clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find a lot of pity for him because of what he did and the depth of his treachery. And that\u2019s Darth Vader. Anakin\u2019s trapped in there somewhere, and Darth Vader won\u2019t let him surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

See? Filoni isn\u2019t being literal here. He knows that, literally, Darth Vader is Anakin. He\u2019s being metaphorical in using \u201cAnakin Skywalker\u201d as a way to describe the powerful, loving, yet flawed Jedi we saw on The Clone Wars<\/em>\u00a0and \u201cDarth Vader\u201d as the evil, violent, unforgivable version he\u2019s become by following the Dark Side. Same person, two sides. And, on Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> and beyond, the Vader side is very much winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the price you pay when you give in to your anger, when you give in to that terrible side of yourself,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cAnd it should terrify all of us. Because we\u2019re all capable of that depth of terror. We\u2019re all capable of doing the wrong thing.\u201d You know, like not reading a little bit further than the headline.<\/p>\n

Watch Darth Vader at the height of his powers on Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em>, which is now streaming.<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni knows his Star Wars.<\/em> He\u2019s been working in that world for almost 20 years, first with The Clone Wars<\/em>, then Rebels<\/em>, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka<\/em>, and much more. When he sits down to discuss the franchise and the philosophies behind it, it\u2019s a joy to listen to because he gets it in a way few people do. But sometimes, you have to read a few inches below the surface for the full expanse of that knowledge.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Filoni spoke after a screening of the Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> finale in which Darth Vader appears. Vader may be long gone in the movies, but in Star Wars<\/em> television, video games, and comics, he pops up from time to time. Filoni spoke about why it\u2019s important to handle Vader in the right way and what he believes the character is feeling in this specific time frame, which is before the events of A New Hope<\/em>. The full discussion is here, but for purposes of this article, we\u2019ll highlight just this taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key to Vader for me is that he\u2019s not Anakin,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t recognize that. He can\u2019t. Anything that reminds him of Anakin, he\u2019s going to destroy. So when he sees a Jedi, he\u2019s going to destroy the Jedi, because the Jedi would remind him unconsciously or consciously that he betrayed all of his friends and everything he knew and the life he grew up with. For what? For nothing. He lost everything. He made a bad trade. He was lied to. He was deceived. He can\u2019t accept that truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the days since Filoni\u2019s quotes, fans on social media have focused in on that first line: \u201cThe key to Vader for me is that he\u2019s not Anakin.\u201d Some are mad because, obviously, Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader. Why would Filoni say he wasn\u2019t? We watched six movies about that very fact. Well, Filoni isn\u2019t dumb. He knows this. And a little later, he explained it very clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find a lot of pity for him because of what he did and the depth of his treachery. And that\u2019s Darth Vader. Anakin\u2019s trapped in there somewhere, and Darth Vader won\u2019t let him surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

See? Filoni isn\u2019t being literal here. He knows that, literally, Darth Vader is Anakin. He\u2019s being metaphorical in using \u201cAnakin Skywalker\u201d as a way to describe the powerful, loving, yet flawed Jedi we saw on The Clone Wars<\/em>\u00a0and \u201cDarth Vader\u201d as the evil, violent, unforgivable version he\u2019s become by following the Dark Side. Same person, two sides. And, on Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> and beyond, the Vader side is very much winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the price you pay when you give in to your anger, when you give in to that terrible side of yourself,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cAnd it should terrify all of us. Because we\u2019re all capable of that depth of terror. We\u2019re all capable of doing the wrong thing.\u201d You know, like not reading a little bit further than the headline.<\/p>\n

Watch Darth Vader at the height of his powers on Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em>, which is now streaming.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Darth-Vader-Maul-Shadow-Lord-the-Force-1200×675.jpg”] Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni knows his Star Wars. He\u2019s been working in that world for almost 20 years, first with The Clone Wars, then Rebels, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and much more. When he sits down to discuss the franchise and the philosophies behind it, it\u2019s a joy to listen to because he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1926326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1926326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1926326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1926326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1926326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}