Yesterday in the mail, I got a form letter from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy as a response to my letter expressing my support for releasing as much bonus content for The Clone Wars as they could. Basically, it restated their position to wind down the show, and hinted at the new animated series.
Nothing really new revealed, but it seems that their position to end the show is solid. The letter had no real mention of the ‘bonus content’ but does mention that it is more than just Dave Filoni working on the new series: “many members of his Clone Wars team” is also in the letter.
Still, nice to know that my letter was received and that they are willing to engage fans on a one-on-one basis. Here’s the full text of the body of the letter (or just click on the image to read the main text):
Thank you for your passion for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and taking the time to write us.
What fans think of Star Wars is extremely important to everyone at Lucasfilm. It is incredible how deeply the show connected with fans around the world and we are so proud of Dave Filoni and the Lucasfilm Animation team for creating such an amazing series.
After five critically acclaimed seasons of The Clone Wars, we felt the time was right to wind down production. As we enter into an exciting new era focused on the next Star Wars feature films, we have also decided to pursue a new direction in animated programming.
I’m pleased to share that Dave Filoni and many members of his Clone Wars team are already hard at work developing a new Star Wars animated series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming. I’m hoping we will have more details to share with all of our fans soon.
Please know how much we appreciate your support. Keep an eye on StarWars.com to be the first to know about new developments on all our projects.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Kennedy
I really like this, a new area.
I’m glad Disney’s working on a new show with Filoni, but that whole “time was right to end the Clone Wars” is BS. The storyline finally progresses to the fall of Anakin Skywalker and this is the right time to cancel the show?
But then, what else could Kennedy say? Disney’s ego was too big to make room for both Clone Wars and Episode VII? Disney would just cancel her out just like they cancelled out everything else. I hope the new stuff is outstanding, but man, what a slap in the face to the fans.
That ”right time to end the show” is indeed BS. They had written it for eight seasons, it was popular, and recent nominations show it was more critically acclaimed than ever. Really, that ”right time” stuff is just a nutshell.
I sent her a letter too, and didn’t even get an answer. At least now we know they actually get somewhere.
Papa Kal: I doubt the new stuff will be outstanding. With Disney being the boss now, I doubt the new show will even dare getting as dark as TCW. There is no way Disney will make something as brutal as the Maul arc or as sad as the final season 5 arc.
Anyone that doesn’t think Disney could go dark with a cartoon on one of their networks never watched Tron Uprising. I’m not saying a new show will be dark, they can and have gone there with shows before.
Also, does the new show even have to be dark? I’m not saying it needs to be Detours style light, but everything doesn’t have to be doom and gloom all the time. Especially if this is a post-Return of the Jedi series. They just killed the Emperor, it’s a happier time than the Clone Wars.
I love the tone of that letter! And am I the only one who thinks the co-operation with Disnay actually works ok? TCW was closing in to one of the darkest chapters in SW – and that has nothing to do with Disney – it’s a general problem that they did this in a series so directed to a very young audience. I’m convinced that they’ll wind up many of the open storylines in another form, more suited to the harsh ending it will have for many of the characters.
Happy Star Wars Day….
@kataja: I don’t think The Clone Wars getting a bit darker would have been a problem under the Lucasfilm banner. In a sense, it’s the Harry Potter situation: Yes, the initial story was aimed at fairly young audiences, but then it grew with its readers until it got to a lot of dark places and more or less adult themes. I think The Clone Wars could have done the same, even though they probably started out a little younger than Potter.
Alas, we’ll never know.
Kataja: the Clone Wars started very kid’s aimed, but the storylines matured a lot. Most storylines in the two-three last seasons were very mature, apart for a few kid’s aimed episodes. By the time it ended, it was more aimed at older viewers than at kids, despite some occasionnal chidlsish episodes, and perfectly in tone with Revenge of the Sith. Just watch the two final arcs and you’ll see.
Aaron mentionned how Harry Potter grew with it’s viewers, and the same thing applies to TCW.