By: Dominic Jones
Last week word got out that Disney was looking into making a Star Wars live action TV series, similar to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. currently in its second season on ABC. Now, Jordan over at Cinelinx has dug up some more details about the behind the scenes goings on with the series. While we still don't know when the series will be set, or even when it will air, Jordan's report does give us a good bit of insight into what the plans are for the series and where it is now.
According to Jordan at Cinelix,
We've heard for a while that Disney has been actively trying to get a Star Wars
live-action series off the ground, and the fact that this news is
popping up again means something changed or was figured out. This sent
me digging for more and I've come up with some information on the
development of the series that you may find interesting.
I'll warn you now, it's nothing Earth-shattering (like plot info or
start date), but it does show us about where they are in the process,
why we're hearing about it now, and the liklihood that we won't see it
anytime in the near future. I've heard from a couple sources now that
until the film schedules have all been ironed out (we've got at least
two movies getting that sorted now), the show is in a holding pattern.
But why would the movie shooting schedules matter to them? That's
pretty simple. The plan is to film the TV show at Pinewood between the
movies, with the intention of using the film sets for the series during
down time. This makes a lot of sense, as reusing the sets for multiple
purposes can save a bunch of money for production and maintain a sense
of continuity, visually, between the movies and show.
In order to make that work, they need to know how long they can film
for between movies. Once they do, budgeting for the show can begin in
earnest. Obviously, without a budget or timeframe in place the show
can't do a whole lot at this point, which is why I say we probably won't
see it for a little while still.
As I mentioned, the fact that we're hearing reports of the
live-action TV show again means that something has changed...and it kind
of has. There's no real "greenlight" for a live-action series at this
point, but from all I've heard, the story group and development teams
are operating under the idea that a show IS happening. Ideas are being developed and I've even heard about them actively trying to use one of the book characters in the series as well...but I'll have more on that later this week.
The problem at this point with the show, is timing. The fact that a
live-action show is happening is pretty much assured, but it can't move
forward with scheduling or budget until more of the film timing has been
worked out. Lucasfilm is playing the long game with Star Wars, and has
a very intricate plan for connecting their universe in a variety of
ways. They're hard at work, so hopefully we'll hear more about this new
TV series before long, but don't expect to see it next year or
anything.
As excited as I am at the prospect of this, I'm a bit burnt out when it comes to getting hyped up for a live action series. From 2005 right up until the Disney announcement we had been hearing about a live action series set between Episodes III and IV that George Lucas would produce. We know that fifty scripts were written, but never produced. So even though this is likely not the same show and almost certainly happening, I'll reserve my excitement for when we get some more concrete details (like a showrunner, time frame for release, etc.)
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