There is more than one new Star Wars TV series in the pipeline

Disney’s Bob Iger tells investors that the company is currently developing multiple Star Wars TV series.

“We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct to consumer app. We’ve mentioned that and we are close to being able to reveal at least one of the interties that is developing that for us. Because the deal isn’t completely closed, we can’t be specific about that,” he said per The Hollywood Reporter. “I think you’ll find the level of talent … on the television front will be rather significant as well.”

The show(s) are expected to debut on Disney’s direct-to-consumer digital platform, which is itself not expected until 2019.

Still, I’m exhausted just hearing this, and using the exact same The Last Jedi still THR did because, yeah. Same, Luke.

Old live-action series plans would have had Palpatine turn because of a “heartless woman”

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I was never particularly enthralled with anything we heard about the old live-action series that Lucasfilm was working on back after Revenge of the Sith, but the new details that came to light last week make me even more glad it was shelved before Lucasfilm’s sale to Disney.

Cory Barlog, a God of War creative director who worked at LucasArts for a time in 2009 and got to read the scripts, told VentureBeat (via) about one plot point of the show:

“It was the most mind-blowing thing I’d ever experienced. I cared about the Emperor. They made the Emperor a sympathetic figure who was wronged by this fucking heartless woman. She’s this hardcore gangster, and she just totally destroyed him as a person. I almost cried while reading this. This is the Emperor, the lightning out of the fingers Emperor. That’s something magical. The writers who worked on that, guys from The Shield and 24, these were excellent writers.”

The Emperor turning because of a woman? It’s like an MRA wet dream. If they wanted to make me grateful for the (boring, harmless and no longer canon) Darth Plagueis novel, well, success!

Although we certainly know at this point that anything with George Lucas’ involvement was not going to be seamless with the Expanded Universe, I do have to wonder if those scripts are why James Luceno’s first iteration of the Plagueis novel was canceled in 2007. The book eventually did come to fruition for a 2012 release, several years after we learned the project was “on hold.”

No plans for live-action Star Wars on ABC

endor-shield-generatorThere are no plans “at the moment” for a live-action Star Wars TV show, ABC president Paul Lee told TVLine.

Note that has no bearing on the the Netflix rumors that pop up regularly. That still seems like the most likely option to me – though I do hope they don’t go with the old ‘Underworld’ concept.

n any case, I remain wary of more Star Wars on TV. Even a light half-hour show like Rebels feels like unnecessary burden at times, and a longer, more adult-oriented one on top of that seems like it would be a bit too much Star Wars. (At least when we’re getting yearly movies.) But then again, that could just be my natural, over-extended grump.

Disney’s Bob Iger tries to temper The Force Awakens’ box office expectations, speaks highly of Netflix

iger-falconDisney CEO Bob Iger tried to downplay box office expectations for The Force Awakens on the company’s earnings call yesterday – a wise movie, as the speculation seems more and more out of hand every time it comes up. (Mostly.)

In less tedious speculation, anyone keeping up with the latest live-action show rumors will be happy to hear what Iger to is saying regarding Netflix. In an interview with CNBC, he talked about “taking advantage of Netflix’s great growth” and that they’ve come forward as “an aggressive buyer of original programming.”

Rumor: Three Star Wars live-action shows for Netflix?

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Today’s hottest Star Wars rumor comes from Cinelinx, where Jordan Maison says he’s heard that there’s still movement happening on live-action TV – and not just one series, but three.

It’s not a shock that Lucasfilm would follow in the footsteps of corporate stepsibling Marvel, who debuted Daredevil, the first of four limited series, on Netflix earlier this year.

We don’t know what (or who) the Star Wars ones would cover, but Jordan is guessing they might begin about 2017.

I’m still not thrilled with the idea of yet more TV, but a Netflix series may be the least annoying way to do it: Drop a complete set of 12-13 episodes, let it marinate for a few months, then drop something new. Of course, it all ultimately depends on what they do with it…

Rumor: Live-action series to include character from upcoming novel

kemp-sithWell, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Jordan at Cinelinx has followed up his earlier report about the live action series, and in it he gives the name of the book character who may cross over… Moff Delian Mors, the Lords of the Sith character who’s already made waves by being the first canon LGBT charater.

While I applaud the addition of a LGBT character to canon, I’m still not sure if I’m going to even be able to read the book itself. I’ve bounced off Paul Kemp’s Star Wars stuff in the past, and I don’t find that his behavior makes me want to try again. Nor do I find this (possible) timeline placement for the (potential) show particularly encouraging, either. But as always, we’ll just have to see how things turn out.

Report: Inevitable Star Wars live-action series may film at Pinewood, but not for a while

Star-Wars-logo-silver500There’s a new report regarding the (a?) live-action series which gives us some idea of when we might actually see one. Cinelinx claims that it is indeed in the pipeline, but the plan is to work around the film shooting schedules… By filming it at Pinewood between movies, which would allow them to reuse film sets. So they’re waiting until that all smooths out, which I’m guessing means after Episode VIII – and Jordan speculates 2017 at the very earliest.

We still don’t know if said show will be the ‘Underworld’ version that was bouncing around (and eventually shelved) back in Lucas’ day, but one hint? It’ll involve a “book character.” (I wouldn’t get too excited about that one, though.)

Tony To joins Lucasfilm as head of production and development

Tony To joins Lucasfilm as head of production and development. A former executive VP of production at Walt Disney Studios, he’ll report to Kathleen Kennedy and oversee “all live-action and animation production.” For our purposes on the ground, perhaps the most interesting part of the Variety story is this: Lucasfilm has “several TV projects in various stages of development on its slate.” Curious…