There has been alotof talk about aStar Warslive-action TV series over the years, but now thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenshas energized the Disney-owned franchise in a big way, the absence of said series remains a head-scratcher. The series, once titledStar Wars: Underworld, was announced back in 2005 withGeorge Lucashimself developing the gritty and ambitious hour-long drama. It experienced a number of delays thanks to the hefty amounts of digital animation it would have required, a budgetary expense that Lucas and his producerRick McCallumneither had the finances nor the technology to handle. Disney certainly has both in spades; they just lack the interest in making the project a priority.
AsTV Linesummarizes,Star Wars: Underworldand its 50 third-draft scripts by writers such asRon Mooreare now firmly the property of Disney, but their focus was, understandably, on kicking off the new series of films. One would think that, now that the films seem to be on a very solid foundation what withStar Wars: The Force Awakensbox office-record smashing performance, Disney might be inclined to bring the Force to ABC in live-action, but apparently that’s not the case.
Network president Paul Lee confirmed as much:
“They are focused on their movies, so we don’t have any plans at the moment.”
That’s not to say thatStar Warsdoesn’t have any presence on television, just not in the live-action format. A Lucasfilm rep supported that stance:
“Our current focus for TV is on animation [Star Wars Rebels, etc.].
The point about focusing on animation for TV is a major one. Not only do the existing animated properties cover roughly the same time period that the live-action series would have (Star Wars Rebelstakes place about five years beforeStar Wars: Episode IV - A New HopeandStar Wars: Underworldwas expected to take place in the 20-year gap between the third and fourth films), they’re much cheaper to make per episode (the live-action hours clocked in a $5 million per). The big difference, however, is the live-action show’s thematic elements and target audience, something that recently drew Netflix’s attention.
There were someconfusing rumors back in September that Netflix would be streaming the existing (and possibly new)Star Warsfilms,and more rumors last month that the streaming service was in talks with Lucasfilm brass about developing a series for 2017.Kathleen Kennedytold/Film:
[I]nterestingly enough, thats an area we’ve spent a lot of time, reading through the material that [Lucas] developed is something we very much would like to explore.
But there are still a couple of things standing in the way. One, as alluded to for TV Line by an anonymous industry insider, is that “it’s smart brand management” not to do one. “I imagine they’re looking to avoid the Marvel-ization of the franchise." An odd choice of description considering the Disney-owned Marvel has done quite well with its cinematic and television universes, so perhaps a more apt way of putting it is a decision not to dilute their brand anymore than they already have. There are a lot of movies coming in the next few years, so Lucas' series might not line up exactly with what Disney plans to do on the feature side of things.
The last thing preventing aStar Warslive-action series from getting the go-ahead isJ.J. Abrams’current deal for television production:
Since my TV deal is at [Warner Bros.],” he explains, “it is unlikely that [my production company] Bad Robot will be involved in anyStar Warstelevision projects.”
In other words, things just aren’t aligned in a way that would makeStar Wars: Underworldan easy sell for Disney at this point. In the future, perhaps that will change, especially if they’re able to make a deal with Netflix; that Marvel deal has worked out well for both parties so far, so at least there’s a precedent for it. Keep your fingers crossed, but don’t get your hopes up until we here something more definitive.
Here’s a look at just a few brief instances of news on the long-in-developmentStar Warslive-action TV series, starting back in 2011:
