Producer Rick McCallum, in an interview with Czech Position, says that the live-action series is several years away.
“The TV series is on hold, but that has nothing to do with the Czech Republic; it has to do with [the episodes being] so ambitious,” McCallum told Czech Position. “We have 50 hours of third-draft scripts, but the problem we have is there is a lot of digital animation; we don’t have the technology yet to be able to do them at a price that is safe for television. Since we would be financing them, it would be suicide for us to do this [now]. So we are going to wait three or four years,” he said.
In addition to giving us a tentative production timeline, he reiterates a few things about the basic premise of the series.
“Basically, it is like ‘The Godfather’; it’s the Empire slowly building up its power base around the galaxy, what happens in Coruscant, which is the major capital, and it’s [about] a group of underground bosses who live there and control drugs, prostitution,” McCallum said.
So… By Celebration VII, then? Maybe.
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18 responses so far ↓
1 Jason Ward // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Is it three to four years until production begins or until we see it? Because if so, perhaps production will start next year. I imagine each season will take nearly as long as the films when considering the amount of work. Wishful thinking…
2 Dunc // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Production, probably.
3 Big Shiny Robot - Rick McCallum Talks Star Wars – Live Action TV // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm
[...] Club Jade found this and I’m pretty baffled by how they randomly found out about this random Czhech publication. In any case, there are lots of good tidbits there. [...]
4 Stooge // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Anybody else think it’ll just never happen?
5 Dunc // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:19 pm
That’d be fine by me. The more we hear, the less interested I get.
6 Grendelspyce // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:34 pm
“Underground bosses”? “Drugs and prostitution”? Ugh. What happened to the story of the Rebellion as seen through the eyes of the rebel pilots? This sounds more like ‘Star Wars: The Wire’.
7 Dunc // Jun 10, 2011 at 2:38 pm
This sounds more like ‘Star Wars: The Wire’.
That’s kind of the point. Back when this was announced it was presented as being in tandem with the cartoon (that became The Clone Wars) as the HBOesque alternative for older fans.
There are a lot of ways to tell a Star Wars story. It’s a big galaxy.
8 Nanci // Jun 10, 2011 at 3:09 pm
“There are a lot of ways to tell a Star Wars story. It’s a big galaxy.”
Wow, can I borrow this statement? So, so true.
9 jawajames // Jun 10, 2011 at 3:13 pm
once they start production in Prague, they’ll need someone to keep locals off the set, y’know.. a Czech bouncer.
10 Austin // Jun 10, 2011 at 6:48 pm
I honestly would feel zero regret if this show never happened. No longer interested.
11 Mike // Jun 10, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Star Wars from the maker himself (or close to it)? Count me in.
12 Jason Ward // Jun 11, 2011 at 2:25 am
I don’t get when something being like The Godfather was a bad thing. I also don’t remember the last things like smugglers, crime, and all that turned out to be a bad thing.
Its probably going to be about how crime spreads under imperialism and that in itself will lead to lots of good things. Star Wars has always been about family and that’s what “like the Godfather” means when you get down to it.
Also, lets not pretend like the focus is the the only place this will go. How much of The Clone Wars has been exclusively about The Clone War, not all that much. It’s a backdrop. But there is there is a huge connection between wars, crime and gangs. Afghanistan probably could have inspired ample stories from there alone.
13 YubNub // Jun 11, 2011 at 7:10 am
I take McCallum’s comments with a grain of salt. Rarely is he ever a straight shooter.
14 Dunc // Jun 11, 2011 at 9:15 am
Well, I’m certainly not expecting them to go into production on exactly June 10, 2014. ;)
15 Josh // Jun 11, 2011 at 1:10 pm
“I don’t get when something being like The Godfather was a bad thing.”
Or when a show being similar to The Wire became something that puts people off. :p
16 Jason Ward // Jun 11, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Yeah, I agree. So far McCallum has compared the show to Deadwood, Rome, and now the Godfather. These three IPs are all fantastic you can see that they are not all alike. But when you imagine these shows as a Vin diagram, you start to see the flavor they are aiming for and I think that’s a good thing.
The Wire, which I loved, was more implied. But when you look back towards their original idea of spin off shows, that makes me think that The Wire is probably not far off from certain aspects of this new series.
17 Mark newbold // Jun 11, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Dunc makes a good point, that the live action was initially designed to be the yin to the animated shows yang (with Seth Greens Squishies as the…yong?) If its Deadwoodesque then I am a happy bunny as the underworld is where I want to be for these live action tales.
18 Jason Ward // Jun 12, 2011 at 4:33 am
The Clone Wars has moved more center in terms of the way that pendulum swings. Thankfully, it appears The Live Action Series is keeping its adult slant and “prostitution” and “Godfather” prove that.
What has thrown me is that this isn’t set on backwater planets. I figured that was going to be part of keeping it cheap. Setting on Coruscant has to double the production costs, I would imagine.
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