No Live TV series till end of the decade

Star Wars Live Action Television Show Update

Posted By Dustin on February 15, 2006

I just got done reading a quick interview with Lucasfilm's Steve Sansweet over at Movieweb.com and noticed one new bit of information I had not heard until today. Steve mentions the live action TV series as "targeted more towards the end of the decade". Up to this point I was under the impression we'd see the animated series in late 2007 and the live action series near the end of 2008. I guess things have taken a different track for this new television project over at Lucasfilm. Here's a quick snippet from Movieweb.com:

"Speaking of the future, you said the Star Wars TV show is years away...

Steve Sansweet: We're doing it in two phases. The first is Star Wars animation, which is CG 3-dimensional animation, like a Toy Story, that takes place during the period of the Clone Wars that takes place between Episodes 2 and 3. And that we're setting for Fall of 2007. Preproduction is underway, we're doing animation test, people are working on initial scripts. So we're well under way on that. And George is very much taking hand and is very much part of the whole process. I know some people thought maybe he would just hey "hey, go do it," but George is Star Wars and he's always gonna be very closely involved in this.

The other project is live action, and the live action is going to take place between Episode 3 and Episode 4. We're looking at a 1 hour show and [Producer] Rick McCallum has said the ideal would be to come up with 100 hours to really get into the story line and characters, and that's the direction we're going in. So that is really targeted more towards the end of the decade."

So there you have it. A little dissapointing if true but think about it this way, I'd rather have them take a longer time and create a masterpiece rather than them just crank out crap with the Star Wars brand on it!

Steve also talks about Star Wars 3-D, Jar-Jar, Indy 4, and much more. Click here for the full report!

http://www.movieweb.com/tv/news/90/11090.php

 

Click where?

 

"This sounds like possibly one of the most ambitious televisions projects EVER. How is it going to happen?

Steve Sansweet: Somebody has to buy it first, you know what I mean? You can produce lots of TV and unless it's very compelling, nobody's going to want to put it on their channel. But there's so many channels of distribution. You turn around and every 6 months there's something new. There's ipod downloads, there's premium sites, there's through-the-telephone. You just don't know what's going to be here in a couple of years. In 3 years, what's going to be the hot new way of distributing? So I think that's always a possibility. Clearly you want to do something that's going to get to as many fans as possible that's as wide as possible."

So the Live Action TV Series is going to most likely come out in 2009 since he said "In 3 years, what's going to be the hot new way of distributing?" Maybe he means in Fall 2008 since that is about 3 years away but I don't think so, so it will probably come out in 2009.

 

The thread title is misleading - the article clearly states they are planning a TV series for Fall 2007, which is only a year and a half away. That's the 3D animated series. The live action TV series may have to wait until the end of the decade.

 

I Think when most ppl think "TV series" they think about the live action one.

 

At least we'll have the Clone Wars 3D Animated Series to keep our interest until the Live Action TV Series comes out.

 

I think it's a good idea to wait until the end of the decade. I want this series to be an event and not some rushed attempt to keep Star Wars alive. Hopefully, the TV landscape will have become more supportive of sci-fi/fantasy programming by then.

Off topic, at one point during the interview, Sansweet is asked about how come Jar Jar didn't die in ROTS. His answer puzzled me:

You shouldn't assume things... I'm not saying he did, but all kinds of things happened off screen in different areas of the universe. I didn't see him in the funeral procession for Padme.

I can't believe that someone like Sansweet did not notice Jar Jar during the funeral. I'm hoping this was a misquote.

 

Agreed. "The end of the decade" is not nearly as far away as you might think. Especially since we're already past the halfway point.

 

Yes the Live Action TV Series could still be coming out in 2008 so it's probably not that far away.

 

I doubt it will come out in 2008. GL is involoved with the clone war animation in 3-d, plus eventually the fourth Indie movie. Since he will be involved, at the earliest it will be in 2009.

 

I'm thinking it will probably come out in 2009 too but I still think it might come out in 2008.

 

Steve Sansweet: You shouldn't assume things... I'm not saying he did, but all kinds of things happened off screen in different areas of the universe. I didn't see him in the funeral procession for Padme. But you never know the future of Jar Jar, there's a lot of years to go into with Star Wars. You don't know what happened between 3 and 4. That's a 19 year period, lots of stuff can happen.

Yeah, die jar jar, die.

 

I want this series to be an event and not some rushed attempt to keep Star Wars alive.

Well we waited 16 years for Episode One and look what they gave us.

 

TPM may have not been that good but at least we got ROTS and AOTC was not that bad either.

 

"But there's so many channels of distribution. You turn around and every 6 months there's something new. There's ipod downloads, there's premium sites, there's through-the-telephone. You just don't know what's going to be here in a couple of years. In 3 years, what's going to be the hot new way of distributing?"


I'm not trying to sound like a "super duper secret insider" with lots of connections (I have a few), but I have it on good authority that Lucas is hoping that the internet will eventually be THE medium of distribution. 'Hyperspace' was a test-bed for this concept.

The idea is for people to, eventually, be able to download 'Star Wars' content directly from Lucasfilm. Be it a Live Action T.V. series, future "Live Action" movies (which I am assured there will be, though not what you might think (think Singapore)), games, etc. It will drastically cut down costs(i.e.--no distribution costs, no packaging costs, no cost for making CDs, DVD, etc.), and the saving will go to both filmmakers and customers alike.

That's what I've heard, anyway. So the delay might in part be because they want to give the world time to catch up technology-wise to their plan of distribution.


I don't mind a delay in the series, though. Gives me more time to become a writer for it.

 

I think you might be right and I don't mind the delay either. We'll have the Clone Wars 3D Animated Series and other Star Wars books, video games, etc. to keep us entertained.

 

I dont know bout that Titus. I mean its a great idea. but only if it doesnt cost anything for us to dowload it off of the internet. True itll save money for them but for others that dont want to spend money each time we want to see an episode, we wont. Besides it wouldnt be a Live Action TV series now would it. Itd be renamed a live action Internet series. And also alot of people want to watch it on TV not on their computer. For those people that dont have a computer they wouldnt be able to watch it at all....since it wouldnt be going to dvd or whatever just to someones computer. It would be a mistake for GL and Lucasfilms to do this. I really dont mind it but i would rather it be on SciFi or some weekend program channel.

But i am very excited that its being delayed just more reason for them to work on it right and not make it a rushed product.

 

It will cost something. Supposidly, it would be similar to 'Hyperspace' where you would pay for an entire year and get all of the content released for that year through the site.

It wouldn't be with every episode. It would be, as I mentioned, like 'Hyperspace'.

I can't imagine people that have t.v.s not also having a home computer within the next 3 years. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I really don't think there are too many people without a personal home computer nowadays.

Once again I'm just passing along what I've heard/know. I'm not saying this is definite. Just that it is what I've heard George has in mind.

Who knows.

 

I hope GL doesnt put this on a major network. On a major network, it would be have a huge build up and would probabaly die after the newiness wore off for alot of the non die hard Star Wars fan. I think somewhere like TBS, TNT or USA would be the perfect outlet for this type of show. Plus we would get to see the epsiodes 3 or 4 times a week. On a network you better have tivo or you dont get to see it but on its orinal air date. It would have to be a perfect fit for it to work on a network, but on a cable station it would have the time to find an audience. Either way I cant wait that is for sure.

 

Yeah, we got a good movie, but I'd prefer it sooner I have to admit.

 

I think a cable network like the Sci Fi channel or HBO would be good to.

 

Since Jar-Jar appeared at the end of ROTJ, we can safely assume he didn't die during any of the movies. That guy sounds like a dork.

 

Thats exactly what I was saying Revanthejedimaster, I dont think putting it on a major network would work, that IS alot of money for them to fork out. Besides series like that dont usually pan out. The only one I can think of is TNTs Babylon 5 which went barely 5 full seasons and 5 made for TV movies. Putting it on the Sci-Fi channel will be a very nice touch for the Star Wars TV series. Sci-Fi channel has made many successful series, Continuation of Stargate SG-1 (10th season I believe), Stargate Atlantis (2nd season), the NEW Battlestar Galactica (almost done with Season 2), need others, Farscape, Sliders, SciFi oringal movies those are great too. So moving it there would be awesome for Lucasfilm.

 

I agree that is why a cable network would be a good fit, for the Live Action TV Series.