Pablo Hidalgo (Lucasfilm) - Part 2

The lore. The legacy. The green robe cameo.
Get ready for a deeper cut into the "Star Wars" galaxy—and the creative mind that’s helped shape it for decades.

If you thought Part 1 was epic—strap in. In the second half of our conversation with Pablo Hidalgo, Director of Franchise and Story at Lucasfilm, we go beyond “Star Wars” lore and into the heart of what makes a lifelong creative tick.

Pablo is one of the key architects behind the modern “Star Wars” galaxy. From vetting books, comics, and scripts to preserving continuity across decades of storytelling, his role keeps the galaxy far, far away on course. 

In Part 2, Pablo opens up about his time embedded on the set of “Revenge of the Sith”, including how he landed a cameo in the opera scene (green robe and all). He also shares what it means to be a “story steward,” how trust was earned behind the scenes, and why passion—not planning—was the secret to his success.

Whether you're a fan of behind-the-scenes magic, filmmaking wisdom, or creative careers that don’t follow a straight line, this episode delivers.

And if you missed Part 1… trust us, you’ll want to go back.

🎧 Hit play and let’s make the jump to hyperspace—because the Force is strong with this one.

🎯 What You’ll Hear:

• Pablo’s on-set stories from "Revenge of the Sith"
• His surprise cameo and how it happened
• How story stewardship works at Lucasfilm
• The trust dynamics behind keeping canon
• Why purpose, not planning, shaped his creative journey

💬 Tell Us:

Which "Star Wars" moment still gives you chills? Tag @NRJMediaGroup or DM us ✨

🌐 Thank you for listening! Stay inspired. Stay bold. Stay Energis’d.  Visit us at www.nrjmediagroup.com to learn more and connect with our growing community.

Transcript

Welcome Back to Pablo Hidalgo at Lucasfilm

Norma 0:04

Energis Podcast is brought to you by NRJ Media Group . Hey friends , if you caught part one of our conversation with Pablo Hidalgo , the director of franchise and story from Lucasfilm , welcome back . And if you didn't , hit pause and go listen . Trust us , it's worth the round trip to a galaxy far , far away .

Rich 0:37

And you know , Norma , it really is that first episode dropped on May the 4th , which was perfect timing for our "Star Wars Day debut , dropped on May the 4th , which was perfect timing for our Star Wars Day debut , and well and I mean well the response we have had from fans has been absolutely out of this world .

Norma 0:54

So here we are with part two , and while part one was packed with origin stories and behind the scenes lore , this one gets personal .

Rich 1:04

Really personal .

Norma 1:05

Oh yes , Pablo opens up about mentors and behind the scenes lore . This one gets personal , really personal . Oh yes , Pablo opens up about mentors , finding his path and what it means to turn your passion into a lifelong career .

Rich 1:14

And it has been . Hasn't it A lifelong career for him ? And , honestly , this episode is full of wisdom . Whether you're a creator , a fan or someone just trying to figure out your own story , there really is something here for you .

Norma 1:27

And also spoiler alert .

Rich 1:31

Enough of your spoiler alerts .

Norma 1:32

No , we have to Okay this one . Let me have this one . All right , Okay , go , Okay , thank you . We talk about how Star Wars didn't just influence Pablo's life . I mean Pablo here , it is his life . The man faxed faxed edits to the official Star Wars encyclopedia . Before email was a thing .

Rich 1:53

I know , and how many times did he fax ? Listen , you'll hear all about that , plus how being a super fan led to a dream job and why he's really still geeks out over sound designers like Ben Burt . This episode , it's got heart , it's got legacy and , yes and yes , it has got lightsabers . all

Rich 2:15

All right , grab your blue milk and maybe wookie cookie okay , let's fire up the hyperdrive .

Rich 2:23

This is Pablo Hidalgo

Maintaining Canon in "Star Wars" Books

Rich 2:25

, part two , part two .

Rich 2:42

So when the Star Wars books are written , is it safe to assume they obviously have to follow the same canon as everything else , because obviously books are written that don't necessarily get made into a TV series or a film , but they sit within that universe . It must be quite hard to keep an eye on all of that , because there are plenty of books out there , aren't there ? There are , yeah , comics .

Pablo Hidalgo 3:02

Yep , aren't there . There are , yeah . So that's part of what I do now is , on the franchise side of things is I'm involved in carefully looking at what gets published and hoping , doing the best we can , that it doesn't contradict something . That's it's one thing to not contradict something that's already come out , but the main thing I do is not contradict something that's in the works . So we'll often have to give veiled notes of don't do that .

Pablo Hidalgo 3:26

I can't tell you why , but don't do that because there's something that's coming out within the next five years you're going to want to steer away from . But a lot of that we've learned . We've learned a lot of tricks and trades of how to get what's ultimately a satisfying print story out being books or comics while preserving the landscape of all the other storytelling that happens to be happening . It's very much like park management .

Pablo Hidalgo 3:49

It's like okay , you want to tell the story , but stick to these trails , Don't go over here , because that's very precious territory . And there's things that we could do Very early on and people learned this in a way . There's things that we could do like very early on and people learned this in a way like avoid superlatives . Avoid making sweeping statements like that was the largest space station he'd ever seen . The second . You say that someone's going to come up with a bigger space station in the story that you had not .

Pablo Hidalgo 4:16

That's a really good point . So , especially when it comes to characters that have a continuity and existence outside of a book , it's like we have to manage what it is they experience in a way that you could believe it's the same character existing on screen as it is on page . We found much more success in creating original characters that live on the page and then filmmakers get inspired and like , oh , can we take that character ? And so it's a lot easier to graduate from the page onto screen , because everyone wants that to happen ?

Rich 4:44

Amazing , because the other question was so when you started you went to Sydney to

Behind the Scenes of "Revenge of the Sith"

Rich 4:51

document the . . . i It was Episode Three , wasn't ?

Pablo Hidalgo 4:54

it yeah , Revenge of the Sith .

Rich 4:55

Revenge of the Sith , and you then had a small walk-on part .

Pablo Hidalgo 4:56

I did . Yeah , how was that ? That must have been amazing .

Pablo Hidalgo 5:00

So that whole experience was a big experiment and it all worked out really , really good look at his face uh , first of all , it's like yeah , you described it as set diarist and that's what the term I use , because the term blogging wasn't known . But I was essentially blogging , yeah , from the set of Episode Three . That was our big pitch . It was the last , it was what we understood to be the last star wars movie that's ever going to be made . And we had this , this fan club , this group online that we thought , thought , well , how do we give them an inside seat into what may be the last time we ever do this ? So the proposal and George Lucas and Rick McCallum , the producer , signed off on it was we're going to send an embedded Lucasfilm guy it was me to write what's going on on set every day as a journal , and he's also taking a webcam with him that's gonna broadcast an image live to people that are watching from home .

Pablo Hidalgo 5:56

They said , yeah , we'll do it , and there are a number of checks and balances in place . For instance , the webcam wasn't like a live 24 frame per second thing . It only took a still image every like 10 to 30 seconds or whatever , and it was a bit of a time delay . It was more of a security camera than it was a webcam , but whatever no sound .

Pablo Hidalgo 6:11

It was enough . People loved it and then I would write every day and , to their credit , they did not have to . I did not get pre-screened material , like they just trusted me . So it was that process where I earned the trust of George , and that's like I had the most FaceTime with George at the time , because I'm on his movie set .

Norma 6:30

You're on the set .

Pablo Hidalgo 6:31

And he was like very sanguine about it . He's like you know , I get it , I get it . You know , like I would never think the webcam planning was all done very strategically , like I'm only going to be pointing in this corner of the set , George , you're not going to see any action , but you'll see the behind-the-scenes crew , and it was the first day of us streaming . George says , well , they don't want to see that , they want to see this , and he picked up the camera and he pointed it directly to a monitor that showed Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in costume . And I was like all right , you did that .

Rich 7:00

I didn't do that . Yeah , he touched the camera , you did that .

Norma 7:02

That was George . He's the Director . He gets to do that .

Pablo Hidalgo 7:04

He's comfortable . It's such a weird proposition but he's fine with it . And so over the months of production I basically got really well known to the production team because they understood what this fly on the wall thing was and , to be honest , they were very welcoming of it because they understood not only they not only understood that this could be the last Star Wars movie , but that there was a community of people that were interested in them and also they're in this world where they can't talk about what it is they do until it's public . And we were basically opening the doors and shining spots that was the first yeah , right , ever , yeah , in this kind of way , right .

Pablo Hidalgo 7:40

So they were very grateful .

Pablo Hidalgo 7:41

It's like wow , and I could tell my family I'm working on this movie , you know , because you did a profile on me or whatever .

Pablo Hidalgo 7:46

So by the time we got to pickups and shooting little bits and bobs to add to , you know , the large composite that is episode three , there was a scene that takes place in an opera house and they were shooting background elements against green screen that would be used to populate the virtual set in that scene . Screen that would be used to populate the virtual set in that scene . And Gillian Libert , who at the time she worked in the costume department and was also both in production and on post , I think she , in addition to the ILM stage crew , like earmarked me as like hey , do you want to have a part in this ? I'm like yeah . So they dressed me as one of these background extras at the Coruscant Opera . And again , you never know . You never know because you're not involved with any of the leads , you're just an element that gets plopped into the film . So there's no guarantee that you're not going to be covered by some CG character or you're going to be three pixels tall in the background .

Norma 8:39

Or that you'll even make the cut right .

Pablo Hidalgo 8:41

This was great , great experience , love it . And then when I see the movie , I'm actually quite visible .

Norma 8:47

So you are . There's nothing else blocking me Do you know what time in the movie ? Because now I want to go home and watch it .

Pablo Hidalgo 8:53

So basically , it's the opera scene . When Anakin comes running into the opera box and has a seat with Palpatine , it's right before they had that big discussion about the legend of Darth .

Norma 9:03

Plagueis . So it's before the discussion .

Pablo Hidalgo 9:04

Yeah , so it's just as Anakin's sitting down and it's a wide shot where you see the balcony and he's sitting down and the balcony is obviously on the upper level . There's a lower concourse where people are milling and back and forth and I'm a character who's walking from screen left to screen right , wearing this green dress , basically .

Norma 9:23

Do we see your face ? Yes , okay , yeah , okay , all right , I'm going to freeze the frame . I'm going to check it out .

Pablo Hidalgo 9:28

From a fan perspective . Again , no expectations , yes , but again this opportunity came in and also being on the set like the energy .

Rich 9:35

Yeah .

Norma 9:35

Because it's one thing when you see it done and you're , you know , looking at edits or d , but being on the set and seeing the magnitude of people that work on it , on the set and off the set , it's a constant reminder of why , when the credits roll , it's a village of people that work on a film .

Pablo Hidalgo 9:54

Oh , absolutely , and I can recognize it's . My favorite thing now is I can recognize when a film is shot in Australia . As the credits come up , I'm like , oh , I know that person . I know that person . I know that person because I was there for so long . How long were you living there ? Four months , oh , so again , another incredible experience , like in my mid-20s . I had no , yeah , I had no , like I was , I was single , I had no attachments to anything , it's like . So I basically moved out of my apartment , put everything in storage and like rent free in Sydney for four months .

Rich 10:29

You know , partying down there as a movie was being made . It was incredible , so that was released . What 2005 ? 2005 , yeah , 2005 .

Pablo Hidalgo 10:32

So this would have been May 2003 to September of 2003 that I was there , amazing . For that bulk of principal photography , and then I continued following them as they did pickups in the UK and stage work in at ILM so must have been amazing , okay .

Rich 10:48

So there's then roughly what 10 years between that film

Disney Acquisition and New "Star Wars" Era

Rich 10:52

and when Disney yeah yeah , yeah , when episode 7 came out .

Pablo Hidalgo 10:55

So it was 2012 is when the , the , the sale happened . Yes , yeah , that was really interesting to watch , because this is hindsight , uh , that people kind of forget about . But again , I had lived through and witnessed on the fan side the first decline of Star Wars , the 83-84 , right . I guess what people weren't really that cognizant of was something similar was essentially happening around 2011 , 2012 , where it's . You know , the world of entertainment has changed such that , without constant sort of infusion of energy , these things become these dusty catalog things that live on the shelf . And I was okay with that potential future . I thought like , oh , I guess Star Wars is this thing that just gets re-released from now on , going forward every now and then . We obviously we found a degree of success by having Clone Wars on TV , but even that was starting to wane to some degree , because the expectation of most animated shows is maybe Two , three years , because your audience ages out of your show . It does , and unless you're bringing in the audience .

Pablo Hidalgo 12:03

It was an animated show , yeah it was an animated show , so that was a tough proposal . Unless you're a comedy like the Simpsons and you can run for 30 years , most adventure shows are maybe two to three years . So it was remarkable that Clone Wars lasted as long as it did , but even that was starting to wane a little bit . So in early 2011 , we started seeing a lot of internal proposals as to what is the future of the company , because we knew that George had retirement in his eyes , because he'd been talking about retiring since the first Star Wars movie , but now it just become more and more real .

Pablo Hidalgo 12:35

It's like , wow , is he really gonna do it ? So what's the future of the company gonna look like ? And there are all sorts of like business folks that were brought in and showing presentations and all that Couple that with like the future of the company going to look like . And there are all sorts of like business folks that were brought in showing presentations and all that Couple that with like the future of the industry was really like was constantly being asked about . You know , it's like what's with the Internet and streaming what's happening , right ? So there were no real concrete answers as to what the future was going to be .

Pablo Hidalgo 12:56

And for the first time in a long time , I found myself wondering like , well , what's next , what happens ? And for the first time in a long time , I found myself wondering like , well , what's next , what happens ? I don't know . I don't know . A lot of us did not . Well , I'll just speak personally . I don't want to speak for anyone else . Could not really conjecture a future of Star Wars into the capacity that we had got used to it . I remember what it was in 87 , 88 , when it was just these small little boutique things and I was like is that the future ?

Pablo Hidalgo 13:18

Maybe it is , and maybe then we'll just get used to . That's what that is . And then a couple of things happened . I remember early 2012 , spring of 2012, . Major changes in upper management in terms of who was running Lucasfilm . You know , we found out Kathleen Kennedy was now our yeah , and it's like what ? And internally we kind of knew it's like you don't bring someone with those kinds of production chops unless the future suggests that you're going back into production , right . And then , all throughout the summer of 2012 , I myself would get all sorts of weird requests from George's office saying what can you tell us about this character ? What can you tell us about what's been said here ? What can you tell us about the ?

Norma 14:05

history of this . Ah ha , you were getting the first little drips .

Pablo Hidalgo 14:08

And I'm like wait a minute . Why are they asking this ? Something's going on .

Norma 14:12

I'll answer the question , but if you answer mine , yeah , yeah , yeah .

Pablo Hidalgo 14:14

So it suddenly became clear like there's activity that I did not anticipate . Well , first of all , two things happened In the summer of 2012, . My boss at the time , Miles Perkins , who was in PR at ILM .

Norma 14:28

I remember Miles , hi , Miles .

Pablo Hidalgo 14:31

He and I know he lobbed this at me because he wanted to see what it would do he just threw it at me . He's like so , with very little preamble , it's like we're making Seven , Eight and Nine .

Norma 14:42

No , he did not , he did .

Pablo Hidalgo 14:44

And I'm like and I said something , can you swear on your podcast Maybe ?

Norma 14:48

not , yeah , we can , oh , yeah , we can Feel free , Go for it .

Pablo Hidalgo 14:54

And I said I basically said what the F . . . Pearls . I'm sorry Pearls , just never know , know , I never know . Don't want to assume , but I was like what ? So then I just had to sit down , I'm like what and so yeah , so basically the cards are on the table . It's like the reason Kathleen Kennedy is in charge and the reason so many people are milling about asking these interesting questions is because Star Wars is coming back .

Norma 15:16

Your heart must have been racing .

Pablo Hidalgo 15:17

And now here's the wild thing I was then after knowing this information Star Wars Celebration happened in Orlando . Oh , and I was one of the stage hosts . Oh , wow .

Rich 15:28

That must have been amazing , so .

Pablo Hidalgo 15:29

I was one of the few people in the world who knew what was coming and could not say a thing about it . How were you like ? Did you like I have the best poker face in this business ? That's it , because my wife didn't know . My wife works at this company as well , Right right and she did not know .

Norma 15:42

Love her , by the way , she did not know until the fall . You had to keep it from her , yeah .

Pablo Hidalgo 15:47

Because this did not get announced until October . So what I did not know that summer was that Disney was on the table as well .

Norma 15:55

Yes , yes , yes .

Pablo Hidalgo 15:56

So at the time , the assumption was that George would produce these in some capacity , but he had different plans . That was playing very close to the vest , so it wasn't until September that at the time , Howard Rothman our longstanding VP of Licensing at the time , he brought a bunch of us around a table and basically told us that Disney was buying us , and I was one of the people tasked with helping communicate that information publicly , like writing a press release putting it all together for StarWarscom .

Norma 16:26

Right .

Pablo Hidalgo 16:27

And again like they're trusting you with this information because that's like inside information . Oh yeah , absolutely . It's not like I do not have stock , but like I could have done something extremely illegal with that information if I had stock , but I'm not a stock guy . I don't know what any of that means , so anyway . So I had that information and then we just basically had to craft a communication plan . How are we going to introduce this to the world .

Norma 16:52

What was going through your head ?

Pablo Hidalgo 16:53

It was wild . Again , it's like what I had learned was , I guess , from my own experiences , I'm not going to be planning a lot , I'm just going to roll the biggest . I guess my one lesson I can impart on so many people is one of my biggest strengths is just rolling , Just rolling with changes , rolling with unexpected changes . So I just rolled with it and it just was like look , let's just take this one task at a time .

Norma 17:18

And this first task is helping to communicate to the world what this is going to be .

Pablo Hidalgo 17:21

Every word there is so important because that would affect everybody , right and we were all set to announce and then , I think , hurricane Sandy closed things down on the stock exchange on the East Coast for a while , so we had to wait an additional week , and that was another thing . I was walking around the halls of New York Comic Con with this information and I felt like I was walking around with a nuclear football , I know exactly what's wrong with Pablo ?

Pablo Hidalgo 17:48

He's so off today If ever there were people who were ready to pounce on news . That's that crowd . So I remember being at New York Comic Con and I had to take a phone call related to this subject and I'm like I can't take this call here . And thankfully I knew people at the Comic Con . My wife knew people at the Comic .

Norma 18:03

Con .

Pablo Hidalgo 18:03

She's like , yeah , is there a private office we could go to ? And they pointed me to a private office . I go in there and the only people in there are some Japanese businessmen . I'm like , man , I hope you guys don't speak English . And even if that was , when we found out , the announcement was being delayed by a week or something because of the weather .

Pablo Hidalgo 18:23

But anyway , it all goes out in the world and then it starts becoming real and you realize , oh , this is real . And then the JJ Abrams element of it fell into place and it's like , oh , wow , okay , this is all becoming this weird new reality and there's new people coming on board and you just kind of take on faith because you know that everyone is trying to do what's best for the story that they're gonna tell and ultimately for Star Wars and to whatever degree that it is that you would help them do that and offer that as value . It's like , yeah , that's , that's what , mike , that's what I'm being tasked for . So very early on I was introduced to JJ as someone who knows a lot about Star Wars and if that's beneficial to you , get in touch . And sure enough , I became this guy that he would constantly float things or just ask the most interesting but incomplete questions , because he's clearly baking on something , but he's not ready to reveal all his cards yet . But it's like , okay , why do you ?

Pablo Hidalgo 19:14

want to know that All right , I'm just going to tell you what that is . So that was great . So that all throughout the production and as we all know , there were multiple things went into production around that time . Star Wars Rebels was our first animated project and I was , very fortunate to you know , a pretty big role in the development of that . As far as like being included and having a seat at the table and being able to offer my past experience , I'm still very proud of that show and being able to contribute the way I did . But I'll tell you .

Rich 19:41

What's lovely is that ? So you're now involved in the new films . Then you've got the TV series as well . So , all of the TV series that follow , which have got their own following . It's the way it's opened up . I can only talk personally , but having Disney behind it seems to have opened up different avenues for for star wars because there were , there weren't series before were they , yeah , that only came about after um was it rise of skywalker ?

Pablo Hidalgo 20:02

the mandalorian predated rise of sky okay just a little like as far as live action shows . That was , that was it and , and it just came out like a month before the movie came out . Yeah , we hit the ground running there . But what's interesting is , like in my mind , a lot of people build a lot of , I would say , false barriers between film , television .

Rich 20:19

It's all becoming very permeated now yeah .

Pablo Hidalgo 20:22

I think that's old school thinking . Most people now grow up watching content I hate using that word watching stories on whatever format that's delivered to them , and it doesn't matter how it originated Stories are stories , yeah . So in our mind it's like well , that's a big screen story , that's a small screen story .

Norma 20:41

That's a small screen story . Exactly that's archaic , yeah .

Rich 20:43

But it is because of how they're shot as well . They look exactly the same as a film , and I heard someone say this the other day . I've forgotten who it was now . They were saying would you watch a 10-hour film ?

Pablo Hidalgo 21:02

I said no , star Wars to me is a setting , so these stories are doors to enter this setting and it really doesn't matter to me what the intent of its distribution was .

Pablo Hidalgo 21:13

I get the business need to dissect these things and categorize them , but to me it's like I welcome Star Wars as a TV show and I don't think it loses a lot because , yes , you get that cultural hit and that big screen moment , but that is so fleeting . The majority of my life has been treating Star Wars like I've watched it on VHS way more than I would have ever watched it on screen . Right , like that is Star Wars to me . It leaps beyond the confines of whatever medium it was released in . It becomes now part of this tableau , part of this tapestry . So I don't fret too much about like , oh , we see Star Wars on the big screen again . I get the business reason to fret about that . But the storytelling reason , the revisiting that universe , that is less important to me . So those TV reason

"Star Wars" Fandom and Community

Pablo Hidalgo 22:01

, the revisiting that universe , that is less important to me . So those TV shows , the streaming shows , are just as Star Wars to me as anything .

Norma 22:07

You know , Pablo , the thing that's also beautiful are the fans , and you've had the privilege of being with them . When I say privilege , did Eric quote that ? No , no , no , I'm one of them . Well , yeah , we'm one of them , Well , yeah , well , be one of them . But when you look at the fandom because this is true fandom around the world , can you talk a little bit about your experiences , whether it be going to conferences or being on set , how culturally fans have changed and what your experience has been when you've been interacting with them ?

Pablo Hidalgo 22:42

It's been like . It's ultimately this universal language . It's something that then you could . It opens doors and it divides . It gets rid of divisions that you may have Once you understand oh , you're into this , I'm into this too . Oh , you're into this this way . Well , I'm into it that way . Right , I find it much more of a unifying thing than it is a divisive thing , although I know like the conversation often tends to focus on the divisive natures of fandom , not just Star Wars , but around the world . Right , like different things , like oh , these Marvel fans don't like DC fans .

Pablo Hidalgo 23:12

Oh , I see Old school Star Trek fans don't like new school Star Trek fans , so it's franchise against franchise , franchise within franchise or even expressions versus different expressions , but that , to me , strikes me as incredibly artificial and it tends to only reflect the medium in which that conversation happens to be taking place . The Internet is the worst for this kind of thing because , especially now with social media , you'll end up getting these sort of cloistered experiences where , like I , only like this , you only like that and this is a barrier between us , right . Displaced experiences where , like I , only like this , you only like that and this is a barrier between us , right ? But the second you go to a convention and people have to basically breathe the same air and live in the same space . All that goes away . It does , because you're able to recognize oh , there's a person here and I see the commonality we have . I see that you were sparked by the same stuff , even if it's not the exact same stuff , it's the same energy , and that's why I do think like convention and in-person experiences tends to be much more a real fan experience or like a realistic interaction than if you only limit yourself to the online world , right ?

Pablo Hidalgo 24:13

You also think like the online world has changed radically in the past 10 years . I did start off on StarWarscom in the online space , but it was such a different animal than it is now . Now people are making their livelihood by being influencers and if that's what you do , great . But it's like that was not what it was back in the day . It's like you'd be hard pressed to find a Star Wars influencer in the pre-social media way and in a weird way , like Steve Sansweet , I could say , was a Star Wars influencer , but it was a different . It's a completely different thing Because in a weird way like it wasn't about Steve being the influencer , it was just like Steve was a gateway to Star Wars , exactly .

Pablo Hidalgo 24:51

So all this to say is I think fandoms in the world are shifting and changing as we get to know what this communication landscape is . But it doesn't change too much once you're in person and if you're sharing a space , if you're in a theater with someone or you just happen to see someone wearing a Star Wars shirt or you're at the parks or something . And do we disagree ? Of course we do , but fandom has always disagreed , because that's what drives fandom . It's like I will disagree on what the best Star Wars movie is yeah exactly .

Pablo Hidalgo 25:20

I'm telling you what my favorite is . You're telling me what your favorite is . It's personal , but I think it's good that the audience is opening up , because then the conversation gets more interesting . It's like oh , that movie's your favorite , it's not mine , why ? And then I understand more about you because you're coming at it from a different perspective than I am .

Rich 25:41

I think , what makes it different with Star Wars , though it's one story , so if you watch say you take Star Trek as an example , their films are quite different , even the reboot . There was no common thread to each of the three films that they did , whereas with Star Wars you have a beginning , you have a middle and you haven't quite reached the end yet . Because isn't there another film with ray coming out ?

Rich 26:01

there's a lot of stuff cooking right now okay , all right , so we're not at the end . So , yes , we're transitioning from the middle to whatever comes after that . So it's it's . It's got this continuity there , so people's view on a film is only based on it's the same story .

Pablo Hidalgo 26:15

It's just that you know yes and no , but I'll challenge you because I think you and I are probably of the same age group and we approach it the same way .

Rich 26:22

I love you . I'm actually older than you , but thank you very much .

Pablo Hidalgo 26:25

But we were introduced to Star Wars with the same group of films . I think you would be surprised to meet people younger that may not even engage in the three , what we consider the three holy films 4 , 5 and 6 , Star Wars , Empire and Jedi . You'd be surprised at how you'll meet new people who are like complete fans , but they've only watched the animated shows .

Norma 26:45

Okay , really .

Pablo Hidalgo 26:47

Yeah , but I think that's good . I think that's ultimately good because it's all still reflecting what it is we love about it , of course , of course , but I think it's now gotten much more diverse , beyond being a singular story . I know that singular story is the spine and it is where the majority of people sit , but now and now , the more that comes out , the more time that passes , there are people who are engaging in such a way . There's people who love Star Wars and to them it's a video game first .

Norma 27:14

Oh yeah , I could see that too .

Pablo Hidalgo 27:16

That was for you .

Norma 27:17

Oh , blasphemy . You said that was for you . I said blasphemy , oh blasphemy . You said that was for you . I didn't

Working with Tony Gilroy on Andor

Norma 27:22

know you were a gamer . Can I ask about Andor ?

Rich 27:26

Yes , you talk a lot with Tony Gilroy . Yes . You must have called you a lot .

Pablo Hidalgo 27:29

Tony , I'm such a fanboy , but I have reined it in . Yeah , because all I could do was like when Tony Gilroy got involved together on the tail end of Rogue One and then with Andor , like Michael Clayton is one of my favorite movies of all time . Oh , it's a brilliant film .

Norma 27:45

Oh it's a great . Yeah , it is .

Pablo Hidalgo 27:47

I have never talked to Tony about Michael Clayton , because I know I would just lose it .

Norma 27:51

Oh , you would just lose it , I would just go off the deep end .

Pablo Hidalgo 27:57

I'm like keep it straight , keep it straight . It's wild to me that I'm on his speed dial because and again , tony's one of these writers where it's the detail . When he writes real world , if a character has to go to a restaurant , he will map out what that restaurant is and what that character is going to order or whatever . That real world texture is important to him . When you're in this fanciful world of Star Wars , he needs to approximate that , and so he'll often ask for , like , what's a thing that I can use here , what's a thing that I could use here ? Or I'll put like the historical context to him in real world language , like , well , this is like this moment in history and this is like this moment in history . This character is analogous to this revolutionary or whatever , and so we'll have this conversation and it's been this great experience .

Pablo Hidalgo 28:43

Because he understands and is reverent to the parts of the world he doesn't know about , but he also understands the part of the world that he's carved out . Oh , I like that . So , in a very interesting way , he understands , for instance , that Mon Mothma is a borrowed character and that Mon Mothma preexisted in Return of the Jedi . But he will respect what is known and then shape and add as required for his story . And then he also understands the characters that are 100 percent his creation , like Luthen and Kleia and Cyril and all that and just go to town by filling those characters with enough vitality and spark that like no one else but he could have crafted these folks .

Pablo Hidalgo 29:26

Andor has been such an amazing experience and to me it represents what I've always been saying that Star Wars is a setting so you could tell all sorts of different stories in there , and in my mind it totally makes sense that Andor could live in the same place as an Ewoks cartoon . It's just that you happen to be shifting the focus through a different storyteller , and that's fine . Like these worlds can coexist , because Star Wars itself is such a huge basket to hold all types of different storytellers .

Norma 29:54

You know , I love the way you're describing this , because now I'm going to see the canon in a completely different light , not just by the stories , not just by the toys . I love that you said it's a setting . Yeah , because it allows more . You dip in and out and it's repeatable . When you go in , your mood could shift , you could turn a different way , you could see things in a different way and you walk out feeling differently as well . I love that you're saying it this way .

Pablo Hidalgo 30:18

And I would argue , our world is like that .

Norma 30:20

Exactly well . It feels more real . The .

Pablo Hidalgo 30:22

Marx Brothers lived at the same time as some of the worst things in history . You're right , but that doesn't mean they're discontinuous .

Rich 30:28

I haven't watched all of the series . I've watched Mandalorian , which was brilliant . I watched the Acolyte . I've got one more episode to watch , but I haven't watched all of them . Obi-wan was brilliant .

Norma 30:38

Well , now I'm brilliant because Courage would have been a little more of a watcher .

Rich 30:42

I didn't watch Andor . I didn't watch Boba Fett . Oh you have to watch him . I highly recommend all of them , obviously .

Pablo Hidalgo 30:48

But Andor is very close to my heart because of the type of storytelling that it does . And again , to circle , that thing that I keep coming about of Star Wars is a setting . It's like you could elevate any character and give them a show , because it's about where they are and what they're doing . When we first announced Andor , people were like why are you making an Andor show ? We know what happens to that character . And now it's the most compelling thing because , sure , we know what happens to that character , it doesn't matter what happens in between and what they experience and how it's told .

Norma 31:19

And how it's told , yeah , how it's told is everything .

Rich 31:23

And is it true ?

Pablo Hidalgo 31:23

there is a oh you might not be able to answer this . We'll see . Are you going ?

Norma 31:25

to get our guest in trouble . You can always ask Okay , good , all right , ask your question Obi-Wan .

Rich 31:30

Is there another series of Obi-Wan coming out ?

Pablo Hidalgo 31:36

I will say what's been ? Okay , fine , but as far , as .

Norma 31:38

Follow you , MacGregor . He'll probably split with me . Oh , that's good .

Pablo Hidalgo 31:41

But as to what may or may not be in the plans , as a rule I don't talk about stuff that's happening in the future .

Rich 31:47

No , that's fair enough , because who can ?

Pablo Hidalgo 31:49

predict such things . I mean , as I've said , I've been constantly surprised and I roll with it .

Norma 31:54

Your life has been a perfect example of what happens . You just go along , right along you hear everybody right along the wave and magical things will come to you .

Pablo Hidalgo 32:03

We're doing this now . Okay , sign me up . Yeah , exactly , let me do something a little different .

Rich 32:07

Let me ask you a question . Okay , your career has been . It's probably not even a career .

Norma 32:14

It's life , let's just talk about it . It's life , you're life , because that would invoke you work , and I don't think you do . I think you enjoy what you do .

Rich 32:23

I'm enjoying listening to you . So am I . I want to come and work here . I know what I was going to ask you is go back to your younger self when you joined here , or to someone else looking to come into this world . What ? Advice would you give ?

Pablo Hidalgo 32:38

Listen , you know there are people who have been here longer . I'm not one of them , but still when I learned it was just like , well , how did you do that ? How did you do that ? Like being interested in realms outside your own particular responsibilities and just being able to manage that in a responsible and approachable way . There's a version of me that would have been a complete nightmare to have West of West .

Pablo Hidalgo 33:04

Well , no , but it's sort of like , hey , we're going to invite the biggest fan we know to work with you . It's like you can imagine , like how bad versions of that . But that wasn't me , thankfully , you know . So there's a way to comport yourself when you enter a world that interests you and you're excited . But I mean , that's just general human nature .

Pablo Hidalgo 33:23

But the other thing is I was very fortunate in that the job itself as I was working on StarWarscom it required me to reach outside to different departments and get to know them . It's like , oh , I'm doing a profile on a sound designer . I better get to know what sound design is . Or I'm going to invite you to tell me what sound design is . Actually , you guys are doing this right now as podcasters . You're asking people to tell them and share your world , right ?

Pablo Hidalgo 33:47

So if you're able to do that in a company in your career and get to know what it is you do and you knew this from your time at Lucasfilm , norma it's like you would have lunch with people that you wouldn't work with on a day-to-day basis . You would get to know them . You'd get to share interests and be interested in what else it is that drives what they do . So the more that you're able to do . Not only does it make you a better person , but within the company , you may find yourself suddenly being able to help people outside of your department by offering some intrinsic piece of information or wisdom , and that just makes you more valued as a whole , you know and you contribute more .

Norma 34:22

When you do that , it's outside of just your scope of your job . You actually care and that was one thing I said over and over again that lucasfilm does a great job in hiring like-minded skilled artists . Better passion , the passion , just like I mean you could . You could see , I could feel it right Just sitting next to you . It's like oh my God , I want to keep talking to you , but , uh , but unfortunately we're getting close on on on our time . There's a couple of things that we'd like to ask our guests .

Norma 34:51

One is um . We'd like our guests to give a shout-out if there's any nonprofit or an organization that you'd like to spotlight , that you work with or champion .

Pablo Hidalgo 35:04

This is very Bay Area-based .

Norma 35:07

We are filming in San Francisco .

Pablo Hidalgo 35:10

But Muttville Muttville . org is one of our favorites . They're a senior dog rescue and we've had several dogs from Muttville and , as you know , as we get older and our energy level decreases , suddenly find yourself one day wanting an older dog .

Pablo Hidalgo 35:27

but it's also just like the benefit of improving their life and seeing them so lovely yeah , and it's like some people feel like , well , isn't that heartbreaking that you don't have as much time with them ? But it's like that time that you do have with them is incredible . So we have a 14 year old dog at home that we got from muttville a couple of years ago . She's just an integral part of our life and you realize that you're offering the comfort and shelter , uh , to a dog at an age that perhaps would be harder to get attention to .

Rich 35:53

But muttville specializes in getting those dogs homes and you know the love you get from an animal . I mean , I have a dog at home , so I understand it is unconditional , it's like a child and no matter how old that dog is , the love , the loyalty is complete .

Norma 36:10

When senior dogs are overlooked all the time . I love that you said Muttville , I love Muttville .

Pablo Hidalgo 36:17

And realistically . Let's be honest , some of us are beyond puppy raising age . It's like I don't have the time or the furniture to raise a puppy so an older dog does come with a lot of benefits . So anyway , Muttville . org .

Rich 36:32

So the other thing we ask our guests to do is to dip their hand into this pile of cards

Career Advice and Final Thoughts

Rich 36:38

here , pick one out .

Pablo Hidalgo 36:40

From anywhere on the deck .

Rich 36:41

Anywhere you're comfortable . And there's a question on there , if you read it out and would oblige us by answering , and then Norma and I will answer as well .

Pablo Hidalgo 36:48

What skill do you need to acquire to achieve your next goal ?

Norma 36:53

Ooh .

Pablo Hidalgo 36:54

Well , that presupposes , I have goals .

Norma 36:57

You're right , you just go with the flow and that's what we've established . You go with the flow . I don't have goals .

Pablo Hidalgo 37:01

But you know , honestly , there are things that I definitely am working on . A lot of it is interesting .

Norma 37:11

I'm good at public speaking to a certain degree , you're a phenomenal speaker , but there's a number of— what do ? You mean , there's a ?

Pablo Hidalgo 37:18

but no , there's a number of tools and cheats .

Norma 37:21

Oh , okay .

Pablo Hidalgo 37:23

Which I'm trying to bridge and move beyond . So I'm good at a stage kind of presence Right when I'm talking one-on-one with someone . I can't see the audience because the lights are on .

Norma 37:33

Yes , ah , you were talking about okay . So in those settings you're comfortable .

Pablo Hidalgo 37:37

I am right , and I'm honestly more comfortable being on stage because I'm isolated from the group . So what I am trying to work on is like well , okay , let's try to be a little bit more people-oriented . And again , there's certain skills I'm working on . So , for instance , I'm going to be hosting a thing down at Burbank . I won't get into specifics what it is , but it's my first time dealing with this particular audience where I'm a host and talking to them really kind of in an ad lib performance-y kind of way .

Norma 38:12

So questions would just come out naturally .

Pablo Hidalgo 38:15

Yeah , Kind of like what we're doing here then yeah , but it's like in front of a group of strangers . Oh , you're going to be great at it , I'm sure , but at the same time I do recognize the uncertainty is in a weird way a benefit , because that's where a lot of energy is derived .

Norma 38:30

Oh , absolutely Absolutely , and the physicality , like how you position people .

Pablo Hidalgo 38:34

You're gonna be fine , so anyway , all right that's , that's an immediate goal , because I have this thing coming up and that's like you want me to answer that next .

Rich 38:40

Can I just re-read the questions what skill do you need to acquire to achieve your next goal ? Skill goal , I would say to achieve my next goal .

Norma 38:56

What skill ?

Rich 38:57

What skill would I need ? Patience .

Norma 39:02

Oh , okay , yeah .

Rich 39:03

I think knowing me would be patience . You get used to doing things under rapid fire . You're used to moving quickly and there are times in your life when you need to slow down and let events take place around you as opposed to try and influence them , and it's something I'm learning is to take a step back from my next goals so that I am more patient and understanding of where I need to be . I would say is probably my .

Norma 39:34

I like that . Patience is important .

Rich 39:37

It is very important , especially when you drive over here .

Norma 39:43

Mine would be letting go of the how , because I'm now I'm morphing my career and wanting to do more creative projects .

Norma 39:56

My brain goes into the business side and you know , having a plan sketching everything out . It has to be this way and there has to be like steps Focusing on . Now I know I need to just do things , just get in there and let things unfold , rekindle relationships with creative people , be more in the creative community and not get stuck on the ticking the list of the to-do's . And that's only because you know it's a left brain , right brain , right . And when you reach a certain age , a certain level of you know experience , you're taught that well , if you don't have these milestones and you're not achieving but it's like I call to that you know , just let go , just breathe in it and live in it , because everything else , the way you're hardwired , will come into play . You'll start seeing the how . But if you're in your head too much and I call it the inconsequential chatter and you're not doing anything , you're actually limiting yourself and you're not seeing the magic that could come of it just being in it Totally .

Rich 40:56

I think what you just said actually letting go I think people hold on very , very tight and I think when you hold on too tight , you actually miss what's going on around you one of the things I've recognized as I got older is just recognizing your own cues .

Pablo Hidalgo 41:10

Yeah , that's a good one , because , like , do I procrastinate ? Yes , but I know that that's part of my process and I know where the limit is , where like , okay , I've gone far enough , now I need to do something , you know , as opposed to scolding myself during those moments of like you're not doing enough , you're not beating yourself up , it's like you know you need to stew , you need to percolate , you need to your parallel processing something in the back .

Pablo Hidalgo 41:36

Your head is working , yep , even if you're not working right now . So being able to recognize yourself , that about yourself , is something super crucial as you get older .

Norma 41:45

Yes , yes , it is one last question comment , and I think you were you . You asked him the question earlier , so he was already answering it . But we'd like to end our podcast with saying is there any advice ? Your final words Share your wisdom .

Rich 42:02

Pablo with the universe .

Pablo Hidalgo 42:03

Share it with us .

Norma 42:04

We'd like to tell people our audience members .

Pablo Hidalgo 42:08

I think it all folds together with some of the stuff we've just talked about now , which is plans are great and beneficial , but listening to your own cues is much more important , because if you find yourself rejecting a plan , there's a reason for that . You know , this plan can be an artificial thing that creates more pain than it need be . Find yourself this is actually a friend's piece of advice , but I'm going to steal it . When you distract yourself , what do you find yourself doing instead ? And then ask yourself why you're doing that instead , rather than the distraction you know , it's like that distraction is telling you something . What are you doing instead ? And for me , it's like when I stop doing real work to do Star Wars , it's like , well , guess what Star Wars is what I should be working on , what Star Wars is what I should be working on ? So again , it's sort of like . You know , recognize your own cues is super important .

Rich 43:04

Pablo , it's been great . Thank you so much .

Norma 43:08

Pablo , can we have you back ? Yeah , I think so .

Rich 43:10

Another 25 years yeah exactly , oh no we'll be creaking in here .

Norma 43:19

We'll be doing it together actually , hey study .

Rich 43:25

Honestly , it's been a real pleasure . It really has Thank you .

Norma 43:27

Thank you so much .

Rich 43:28

A real eye-opener as well .

Norma 43:29

I know , and your journey , your incredible journey .

Norma 43:32

And I love the advice you gave , and I know our listeners are going to be appreciating it , and I know our listeners are going to be appreciating it , and I know we're Star Wars fans . Your fans out there are going to be so excited to hear what you had to share today . My pleasure . Thank you for tuning in to Energis Podcast , where ambition meets achievement . If today's stories energized , you share this episode with someone who needs that spark . Stay connected , subscribe to our newsletter at nrjmediagroupcom and follow us on social media for more powerful insights . Until next time , stay inspired , stay bold and keep striving for greatness .

Rich 44:17

Energis Podcast is produced and hosted by Norma Garcia and Rich Reid the incredible talent behind us . We are highly engineered and edited by Rich Evers . Our seriously curated director is none other than David H Tanaka . Our talented music composer is Steve Devaney . Our devotion to motion graphic designer is Mike Macklin . Our very spirited technical advisor is Tracy Williams . Our amazing marketing manager , Lauren Carter . Our man of many words publicist is Josh Gershman . And introducing our producer's assistant , Blake Miele . Energis Podcast is brought to you by NRJ Media Group .