Disney purchased all of Lucasfilm back in 2012 for more than $4 billion and so far, they have been turning that into a very good investment. They are making a lot ofStar Warsmovies (which are raking in the box office dollars) and other media such as comic books and video games. But long before Disney ever stepped in, there were talks of a live-actionStar WarsTV show of some kind. So where are they with that? Well, it looks like it might still happen, but definitely not anytime soon. At least not on ABC.
ABC’s PresidentChanning Dungeyrecently spoke withEntertainment Weeklyabout the potential for the network to develop a live-actionStar Wars TV show, something we have heard a lot about in recent years, but nothing concrete. While he wouldn’t put the idea to bed completely, it sounds like ABC is a very long way off from actually bringing a galaxy far, far away to a TV near you. Here is what he had to say about it.
“That was sort of a conversation at TCA that got blown way out of proportion. We have had some conversations in general about wanting to find a way to bring something from the Lucas Star Wars Universe to ABC, but that’s far into the future. The focus at the moment for Lucas is on the current stuff that they’re doing on the film side and then, of course, they do have the stuff that they are doing on XD.”
The onlyStar Warsshow Disney has brought to the table in the time since Lucasfilm was purchased has beenStar Wars Rebels, which asChanning Dungeynotes, is on Disney XD. That show has more and more become essential viewing forStar Warsfans, especially since there were a ton of references to it made inRouge One: A Star Wars Story. Still, as good asStar Wars Rebelsis, nothing can really compare to the idea of having alive-action Star Wars TV showat some point. One would imagine it is an inevitability, but it might frustrate fans to think it is such a long way off.
In the days before anyone knew thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenswas going to be a thing and whenGeorge Lucaswas still in control, there were plans for a live-actionStar Warsshow, supposedly titledStar Wars: Underworld. Little is known about the show specifically, but it would have taken place prior to the events of theoriginal Star Warstrilogy. The show was so far along thatLucashad somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 scripts commissioned, which are probably sitting in a vault somewhere at Disney or Skywalker Ranch. So there is always a chance Disney could dust those off and make use of them. The show ultimately got scrapped in 2008 due to budget constraints, which makes sense. Making anythingStar Warsrelated isn’t cheap.
ABC seems like a very logical place for Disney and Lucasfilm to eventually place a live-actionStar WarsTV show in the future, since Disney owns the network. With that said, that isn’t the only place it could happen. They also have a good relationship with Netflix and there have even been rumors that The Mouse House is looking to buy the streaming giant, so perhaps that would be a good place to do aStar Warsseries of some kind. It would certainly make fans happy to be able to binge it instead of going week-to-week. In any case, that is all speculative and at least for now, we are going to have to be happy with a newStar warsmovie every year and all of the other content in theStar Wars expanded universe. Let’s be honest, it is still a pretty good time to be aStar Warsfan.
