Pablo Hidalgo

Pablo Hidalgo is a Chilean-born creative executive based in California, currently working for Lucasfilm on the '' Star Wars'' franchise.

Early work

Hidalgo was born in Santiago, Chile and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 1987 he became a fan of the role-playing game (RPG) resources published West End Games, the only official source of ''Star Wars'' content in the late 1980s and took it upon himself to become knowledgeable of the universe to create better stories for the group of friends he was playing it with. He later used both content from the RPG and ideas he developed for his gaming sessions within official ''Star Wars'' media, such as the tracking device used by the Inquisitor and the name of a ship in ''Star Wars Rebels''.

He submitted content for West End Games' ''Star Wars Adventure Journal'' in 1993. Although rejected because he was not a published author at the time, his correspondence with the company resulted in him being hired as a cartoonist for the magazine by Peter Schweighofer. Since he was now a published author, he was allowed to publish material for the RPG as well as stories in the magazine.

During his involvement, he collected the first large-scale database of ''Star Wars'' knowledge, parts of which he posted online in 1997 as the "Star Wars Index". He also used his extensive knowledge to assist Steve Sansweet with fact-checking the '' Star Wars Encyclopedia'', the first such work published shortly before the release of the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy.

Working for Lucasfilm

In January 2000 he was hired by Sansweet at Lucasfilm to build up StarWars.com, the official ''Star Wars'' website, as a resource for fans during the then-active filming and launch of the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy. He then served as Internet Content Manager for Lucas Online, the division of Lucasfilm responsible for maintaining StarWars.com, where he also published multiple comics until 2011. In addition, during this time Hidalgo was being consulted to ensure continuity in various Star Wars media releases.

In 2005, he had a non-speaking cameo role in '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' as a patron of the opera Chancellor Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker visit.

Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm

After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy created the Lucasfilm Story Group, a group of '' Star Wars'' experts tasked with maintaining the canon of the franchise after its partial reboot in 2014. While at Lucasfilm Hidalgo was known for his extensive knowledge of Star Wars mythology and he was added as a member of story group led by Kiri Hart. Their duties range from fact-checking dialogue, e.g. whether a certain character would really say a certain line or whether it makes sense in the universe's context, to keeping track of names and locations of planets as well as naming unnamed planets, characters and other entities as well as coordinating all stories in development.

Sometimes called the Yoda of Lucasfilm or "the Indiana Jones of ''Star Wars''", his insider knowledge of ''Star Wars'' canon is used by multiple sources to confirm or deny rumors about certain characters, locations or events within the fictional universe. J. J. Abrams admitted that during the production of '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' he often e-mailed Hidalgo up to three times a day asking him questions about details about the franchise's universe. In 2022, Hidalgo's official title at Lucasfilm was creative executive.

In December 2020, Hidalgo was criticized for allegedly mocking a Star Wars fan's emotional YouTube video reaction to the season 2 finale of ''The Mandalorian''. After the tweet became public, Hidalgo apologized and clarified that the private tweet was meant to be sarcastic.

Partial bibliography

Hidalgo is the author of several official reference and guide books about the ''Star Wars'' franchise as well as the ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Transformers'' franchises.
* ''Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels'' (with Steve Sansweet) (2005)
* ''G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide, 1982-2008'' (2009)
* ''Transformers Vault: The Complete Transformers Universe Showcasing Rare Collectibles and Memorabilia'' (2011)
* ''The Essential Reader's Companion'' (2012)
* ''Star Wars: A New Hero'' (2014)
* ''Star Wars Rebels: Head to Head'' (2014)
* '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary'' (2015)
* ''Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy'' (2016)
* '' Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide'' (2016)
* ''Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View'' (2017)
* '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary'' (2017)
* '' Solo: A Star Wars Story: The Official Guide'' (2018)
* ''Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious'' (2018)
* ''Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary'' (2019)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidalgo, Pablo
Canadian science fiction writers
1974 births
Living people
Writers from Winnipeg
Chilean emigrants to Canada
Writers from Santiago
Lucasfilm people