Long-time Star Wars fans will know that there's been talk for more than a few years of a live-action TV series.
Reportedly known as Star Wars: Underworld, the TV series was to take place during the original trilogy and focus on bounty hunters such as Dengar, Boba Fett and a few other characters. More pointedly, the show was to work off a similar vibe to Battlestar Galactica and, as one insider reportedly called it, "The Sopranos in space."
Yeah.
Anyway, what with Lucasfilm's sale to Disney and The Force Awakens, the whole thing was kicked to touch and that was supposedly it. However, these things rarely stay dead for long and now, at long last, it appears there may be something happening. At the annual Television Critics' Association shindig, ABC Studios' head honcho Channing Dungey confirmed that they are in talks with Lucasfilm about the live-action series.
"It’s all a little bit hush, hush. That company (Lucasfilm) exists under a huge banner of secrecy. If you thought Marvel was secretive, Lucas takes it to a whole other level... We don’t have an official timeline yet," explained Dungey.
ABC has already a relationship with parent company Disney and have produced Marvel's long-running Agents of SHIELD. They also had Agent Carter, however that was sadly cancelled earlier this year. To say that a Star Wars TV series would be a hit is an understatement.
Star Wars is basically a gigantic ATM for anyone who has the PIN code and, right now at least, Lucasfilm doesn't really need to do a TV show for it. Simply put, it's all about protecting the goodwill that The Force Awakens brought back now and making a sub-par TV series would be the surest way of ruining that.
The animated Rebels series, meanwhile, is doing quite well and Lucasfilm's involvement is quite measured on it. A live-action TV series, however, is a different kettle of fish. For one, more people would be likely to watch it as opposed to a show specifically aimed at children and you've also got the fact that crossovers would have to happen in order to give it legitimacy.
In other words, depending on when and where it's set, you'd need to see the likes of Daisy Ridley turn up for an episode or two to give it a bit of traction. This is all, of course, speculative and nothing's been confirmed. Lucasfilm could very well decide to knock this all on the head and continue on with the films as is.
What do you think? Would you be interested in a Star Wars live-action TV series? Let us know in the comments!
