Star Wars Keeps Focus Away From Live Action TV. At least for The Time Being
It seems that if there is to be a Star Wars live action TV show, it will not be coming to the ABC network any time in the very near future.
TVLine is reporting today that the Star Wars universe is staying away from live action television for the time being. It had been reported a few months back that Lucasfilm was discussing a deal with Netflix to bring serialized tales of the Galaxy Far Far Away streaming into your home. At the time, it had been speculated that this could be related in some way to the oft discussed and perpetually idealized Star Wars: Underworld series that was in development well before the sale to Disney, but had been shelved due to expense and effects issues. Their report speculates that Lucasfilm has decided to keep things centered on the film side for the time being to avoid overstretching themselves as they rebuild the brand. Or I guess, more accurately, Lucasfilm will be concentrating on feature films, cartoon series, comic books, novels, video games, toys, cereal, coffee creamers and pretty much everything under the sun BUT a live action TV series.
Now, its possible that TVLine has some information from sources that it did not feel comfortable sharing in this article, but from the information given it doesn’t seem that anything substantial is said in actual regard to the status of a new series. TVLine quotes ABC president Paul Lee and a Lucasfilm executive as saying that their current focus is on the film and Rebels. That’s about as qualified a denial as you can get. They are not working on one at this very moment. It is not in production, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t start one in the near future. And unlike a major film, TV series have a tendency to come together quicker in the planning stages.
The rest of the article quotes an anonymous industry executive who says nothing but the fact that he thinks not starting a live action series is a good move, but offers no evidence that this is actually the plan. And yes, I’d agree. rival executives probably think its a wonderful idea to have less Star Wars in the marketplace. Finally, they have a quote from JJ Abrams reasserting that Bad Robot’s TV deal is currently with Warner Brothers, not Disney. That is a fact that has little to no bearing on the state of any Star Wars series as there is no reason to believe that Abrams or Bad Robot would need to, or want to, be involved in any TV series.
In the end, from this report, I think we can understand that things are exactly where we thought they were on the live action television front. Nothing is happening at this exact moment. But that could all easily change in a heartbeat if and when Disney and Lucasfilm decide its time to strike at that market.
Smart move.
The TV market is already busy and it`s not going to decline any time soon. If anything, it`ll grow even bigger.
Timing is everything. They need the world to get used to the reality that Star Wars is back.
Once this trilogy is done and the anthology movies are out (and they are good) – I think there will be a huge fanbase of new and old people wanting for more.
I would absolutely LOVE a battlestar galactica-esq Star Wars show on Netflix or something. That said, I think they should save that card for when the movies are more played out. Right now everyone is pumped about episode 8 and rouge one. Rebels is fine but too much content and they water down the audience and if the show dosnt work it will just hurt them. They will decinately do a show, just not for 3-5 years
Battlestar Galactica but with rebels looking for a base on Hoth would be awesome.
Imagine using costumes from the various shoots, reusing sets due to a self contained ship, etc.
My idea would be something more like Deep Space 9 but on Bespin or something similar.
If a Star Wars show were to come out, I would only want it on Netflix. I don’t want some bright and sunny low-budget ABC show full of bad CGI.
or HBO
HBO is a subscription channel though, and I don’t want to have to add it on to my existing Netflix subscription. But as far as quality goes, HBO is definitely a good choice.
Well you can do like me lol, I subscribe to Netflix only when there’s something worth watching (Jessica Jones, Daredevil, House of Cards, etc…) once I am done I end my subscription. Same thing with HBO, when it’s Game of Thrones time, I subscribe, when the serie is done I end it…
Nice idea.
Sunny ? I don’t know if notice but Star Wars aren’t exactly Game of Thrones. In Star Wars there is actually Light side and Dark side.
But it’s not some crappy ABC comedy. Star Wars is best when allowed to get dark.
Ehhhh Star Wars the Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels saying something else. Hell evan new movie is not dark but it is great.
And could you write one example of dark Star Wars ?
The Empire Strikes Back.
Exactly. Arguably the darkest Star Wars movie and less arguably the best.
And it is rated PG…… yeah.
It was rated PG when PG-13 didn’t exist….yeah.
I don’t need an edgy Star Wars series with blood and gore and people screwing each other left and right, but I want a show that actually takes itself seriously (I’m looking at you, Rebels).
+1
Clone Wars was quite dark for the last 2 or so seasons.
Revenge of the Sith
it seems like dark is the new buzz word these days. star wars isn’t GoT or batman. its at its core a fun action adventure. thats not to say it can’t get more serious at times and up the stakes, but please, lets not get not get darker or edgier or grittier for the hell of it.
We don’t need poop jokes, fake stakes, and sassy robots either.
Whole heartedly agree.
Budget would be always an issue for TV. Even Rebels are suffering from the quality of CG animation, compared with excellent The Clone Wars. Dave Filoni said Rebels took 3 months to complete from scripting to animation,TCW took almost an year.
That’s fine..live action shows can wait..as long as I get some sort of animated show after rebels about Luke establishing his Jedi order which would ultimately lead to Ben slaughtering them all and turning into Kylo Ren I’d be a VERY happy person.
I would love to see one based on the OT Characters adventures prior to ANH , w/o Rebels tie ins as well is what transpired in between the ESB and ROTJ.
old republic series. pleeeease. 🙂
YES! In fact, it would be the PERFECT era to have a live action TV show.
I thought there was a existing Star Wars live action tv show called Attack of the Clones.
Speaking of thinking, I think of these images whenever you comment on here since I feel they perfectly capture you
Speaking of thinking, I think of these images whenever you comment on here since I feel they perfectly capture you.
Butthurt much?
Images
I hope that if they actually get around to doing it they will tell us “10 Cloverfield Lane” style. COMING IN 2 MONTHS! Just so we don’t have to wonder if it’s actually going to happen.
That would be great! Just like I said for the launch of Half-Life 3; don’t announce it at all, just make the damn game and when it’s 100% ready announce and release it next day. Half-Life 3, tomorrow in the store near you.
Having live-action TV series on now in addition to feature films hasn’t seem to dampen enthusiasim for Marvel or DC projects. Same with Star Trek back in the day.
Depends, I know several people were really turned off to marvel by agents of sheild. But I agree, I don’t think it would have a huge effect, at least no more than rebels currently has
Even if it sucks, I think the novelty of it would draw big numbers for the first season since it’s never been tried before for SW outside low budget TV specials and made for television films.
Agents of Shield had difficulty in the first half of the first season to hit its stride. People stopped watching… Then the mid-season premier hit… People started telling their friends and their friends responded “meh, not that great”. They reassured their friends and their friends gave it a second shot. That was it’s saving grace.
Well, Star Trek did hit a point of over-saturation. So much so that in 2005 it dropped out of cinema and television for 4 years. Even after 4 years, it still will take another 8 years to make its way back to television. 2002 to 2009 for another movie and 2005 to 2017 for another TV series.
Maybe TV and cinema could lead to over-saturation? If I’m honest, I cant get enough Star Wars. I want move games with story lines, I want more shows that tie into the movies… I just cant get enough.
Debatable. I don’t think Voyager and Enterprise were up to the high standard TOS/TNG/DS9 set and if they were as well as the films then they’d still probably have been going strong through all these years.
Also Trek tended to repeat itself a bit and the SW galaxy is full of many different genres to explore long as they don’t compete with the films,
The day that Disney/Lucasfilm stops concentrating on coffee creamers is the day life will no longer have any meaning.
i know i won’t buy half and half unless it has vader’s picture on it. 😉
I want prequel stuff, weather it’s a prequel video game (rpg) or a tv show. I love the new stuff and the OT stuff, and that’s why I don’t want over saturation. It keeps everything fresh
Interesting find.
Yeah, I expected as much. My advise would be, don’t get into it if you can’t provide 100% quality. Star Wars deserve nothing less.
The Old Republic Netflix tv show would work great to set up that time in mainstream media and eventually a movie trilogy or Anthology movie could come up
I don’t doubt that they’ll use some characters and concepts from SW: Underworld in the new trilogy or the anthology films and or video games 0. So I’m not that upset about it. Besides a tv/Netflix budget wouldn’t do SW justice
Bah an anonymous report but The Wrap got their report correct more or less so. I think they are dropping the ball ignoring live TV with all the momentum built up from the first new film in years. Rogue One may damper some of it since it isn’t a Skywalker story and there no Jedi which is why general audiences have always been very confused about how Star Wars works even though its not that hard.
It must take a lot of resources to make these films in such a short time frame and the mandate to do one per year even though that could change. I remember when when May was the new drop date for any film and that no longer holds true. Anything can happen.
Fuck off – if they can do an updated version of Battlestar Galactica a few years ago with the writing and the brilliant effects…they cant do a 12 episode a season Star Wars show now with better effects and story telling… man/women up and bring it!
no need to rush it, they’ve got a lot of balls in the air right now.
I know what you are saying…but are we really going to believe Disney does not have the capacity to engage with creative people with great ideas and ability to get this going and the funds to back it? It’s another poor show IMHO ..Lucasfilm/arts were on the cusp of doing this many times before ..Disney are all encompassing at the moment in TV and Film. It’s just seems a bit lightweight IMHO and is bad form from the people at the top. Strike whilst the Iron is hot. There is a demand and no shortage of people to get this going..
Perhaps, but its not like SW is going anywhere. Besides, it took marvel like four years to launch its TV branch and even longer for the Netflix verse.
Are they the right people for the right price at the right time?
It’s easy to say that, but why rush something (Agents of Shield)?
They have to have a good idea and the right people to put it into action.
I hope it never airs on ABC. I don’t want a Star Wars television show anywhere near network tv.