Tweets From 'The Clone Wars' 10th Anniversary Panel at SDCC #CloneWarsSaved

By: Dominic Jones

Today at San Diego Comic Con, the Emmy award winning animated series celebrated two historic milestones, the tenth anniversary of its debut and the announcement of its upcoming return.  I was in attendance at the panel and live tweeted all the action, including the look backs at the series origins and the surprising  announcement of the series return next year on the Disney Direct to Consumer streaming service.  I've compiled my tweets from the panel below so you can relive all the excitement and insight from this afternoon's festivities.

Somebody just yelled "AHSOKA!" And the crowd goes wild! #SDCC TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Panel begins with video highlighting The Clone Wars movie and some early S1 stuff! #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

.@amy_geek has taken the stage and intros the panel: Dave Filoni, Athena Portilo, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter, and Kevin Kiner! pic.twitter.com/LbRB7exL2s

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

The footage that was shown here was the very first TCW content that was shown at Ceebration IV in 2007. The trailer was George Lucas' idea. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Athena says when she started at LFL she wasn't working on TCW, she was working on Strange Magic, and Filoni would stop by her office and say "why are you working on this when you have a Star Wars liscence plate?" #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Early Clone Wars concept art, including the original crew idea they had (which they eventually adapted for Rebels). The idea was scrapped because George really wanted them to focus on Anakin. pic.twitter.com/LkBVmGhpGa

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says they would come up with the stories for each season during two week story conferences at Skywalker Ranch with George Lucas. They would come up with about three episodes a day during those conferences #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni gives a shout out to CGCG, the animators who did most of the animation for the series #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Sketches by Filoni from the S5 Younglings arc. They were done during the story conferences with George and the writers. #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/QDtmdv5Mo9

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Matt Lanter on Nika Futterman (Ventress): "She's just the sweetest and then she just turns on this evil-Ventress side" #SDCC18 #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni: There were no unimportant jobs on The Clone Wars, everybody contributing was essential to the show #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

More Filoni Sketches #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/MixWT6HjRy

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says he largely ignores the internet, mostly because the episode are made so far in advance that there's nothing he can do to respond to fan reaction #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Kiner says arcs like the Droid arc that cover material that John Williams never got to explore in SW music give him a chance to really expand into new musical spaces #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says the idea for Rush Clovis came from wanting to show the conflict between Anakin and Padme, that they weren't this ideal couple. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says when he was casting Anakin he was looking for a real likability, so that when he falls it feels even more devastating. Says Matt really embodied that. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says that he thinks Star Wars (and the Force) is really all about the difference between being selfish and selfless #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Athena says that no one in her production team believes in saying "No" and that they always want to do everything they can to service the creative vision #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says they never would have gotten Clone Wars off the ground without Athena #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says losing Ian Abercrombie (Palpatine) was a real blow. Matt says Ian was really warm to him, wonders if he was channeling the Palpatine/Anakin relationship #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/CkiReqyva4

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Ashley says Filoni let her know before the end of season 5 that Ahsoka was walking away and she wouldn't be back for a while, so even though they didn't know season 5 would be the end when they recorded it, it felt like an ending for her #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Ashley says Filoni is the best director she's worked with because he gets to know every actor and tailors his direct style to each individual actor. Kevin echoes this, saying that even after 35 years of working TV, Filoni is the best director he's worked with too #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni says that with acting and the music it wasn't about emulating what came before but rather taking what was done and building on it. Credits George with teaching him how to do that. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni on the Yoda arc,:George wanted to show that everyone has a dark side and how he evolved to become the character we meet in ESB. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Sketches from unproduced episodes #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/CSCBRAH6bQ

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

A couple of silly sketches #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/w8LlS8xd9B

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

More Filoni sketches from unproduced episodes #SDCC #TCW10 pic.twitter.com/4ZHpZTUobu

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni: When the sketches are more abstract/loose, it's because the stories are still evolving. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Kevin says they went to Prague to record the music for Ahsoka's final scene. Says Filoni called him at his hotel asking him to add more of the Force theme and he had to write it all out by memory #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Filoni: the appreciation of the fans for The Clone Wars is what keeps it special for the crew. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Matt says that people still come up to him and tell him about how much they love The Clone Wars #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Ashley says that even before Ahsoka was announced Filoni told her that it would change her life. Says that within a week of the film coming out she had fan mail from around the world. #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

It was then that Filoni announced that he had something special for the audience at the panel.  And then this was shown,

And the crowd went wild!! 

#CloneWarsSaved #SDCC #TCW10

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

New Clone Wars is coming to Disney Direct Consumer! #CloneWarsSaved #SDCC pic.twitter.com/Oejh0zx8ng

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

It's a wrap on The Clone Wars panel from #SDCC! Thank you @dave_filoni @MattLanter @heruniverse @amy_geek, Athena Portilo, and Kevin Kiner! #CloneWarsSaved

— The SWU @ #SDCC (@TheSWU) July 19, 2018

Twelve new episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will hit the Disney Direct to Consumer streaming service sometime next year.  The panel was an incredible thing to witness.  The early part of the panel was a nice trip down memory lane, and the ending was a wonderful surprise.  As a huge fan of The Clone Wars, I can't wait to see the new episodes.  Thank you to Dave Filoni, Athena Portilo, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter, and Kevin Kiner for an awesome panel and for bringing the show back!

Make sure to follow @TheSWU on Twitter and Instagram throughout the week for updates on all the Star Wars events taking place during San Diego Comic Con!

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