While the topic of a live-action Star Wars TV series seemed dead, ABC has just brought them back to life with interesting comments.
Remember those pre-Disney-deal Star Wars news reports hinting that a live-action series was in the works with Lucasfilm? Well, fans dispirited by the eventual dissolution of that project (Star Wars: Underworld) after the 2012 $4 billion franchise buyout might just have their hopes revived after comments made by the big brass of the (Disney-owned) network ABC.
At the Television Critics Association summer press tour, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey dropped the kind of proverbial explosive projectile that would have you looking in the sky for TIE Bombers. When asked about the possibility of the already media-ubiquitous Star Wars property finally taking the plunge into the live-action television series arena, Dungey gave a surprising answer, revealing the existence of some fateful talks (via Variety):
“As a fan I would absolutely love to say yes. We have had conversations with [Lucasfilm] and we will continue to have conversations with them. I think it would be wonderful if we could find a way to extend that brand onto our programming.”
Dungey did clarify that when he says “conversations,” he’s being quite specific and that there are currently no official plans to conceive a live-action Star Wars series, at least, at the moment. Citing the “hush-hush,” national security-like nature of the perennially popular Star Wars branding, Dungey would only go far enough to admit that said talks are, indeed, “ongoing,” though still without any official timeline.
Of course, the monolithic and growing film franchise that is Star Wars already has quite the small screen presence… in animated form, anyway. Star Wars Rebels is the highly-acclaimed prestige series set between the Prequel Trilogy films and the classic Original Trilogy outings, with other shows of the Lego variety, notably Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, which puts a more lighthearted spin on the recently-codified canon of the cinematic space mythology.
Certainly, conversations will erupt, speculating on the focus, tone and time period of a prospective Star Wars live-action television series. Could we see the aforementioned Coruscant-set “scum and villainy” of Underworld get revived? Or, could we see the torch passed to a new set of characters in the current Sequel Trilogy era kicked off with last December’s The Force Awakens?
