One of Robot Chicken co-creator Matthew Senreich's favorite things to parody on the long-running Adult Swim sketch show is Star Wars, which was fully supported by Lucasfilm guru, George Lucas, when the show started out. When Lucas sold his multi-billion dollar company to Disney in 2012, however, things changed a bit for Robot Chicken, and now it's not as easy for the series to do Star Wars specials as it once was.

Speaking with Screen Rant at SDCC 2017, Senreich admitted the Star Wars stuff is “closest and dearest to his heart,” and it shows. Some of Robot Chicken's most hilarious moments stem from the Star Wars universe, including the time Emperor Palpatine (voiced by the excellent Seth MacFarlane) is going up an escalator and is forced to greet each Stormtrooper who hails him as they are coming down the opposite side – until it just gets to the point in which Palpatine just starts telling them to f**k off.

The show has continually churned out excellent parodies with all your favorite Star Wars characters. When asked how it was so easy for the show to have access to the Star Wars canon, Senreich replied:

"Because it was just one guy: George Lucas. He saw our show and he was the one to approach us, like, “What do you guys want to do with us?” It started a multi-year relationship. When he sold the company to Disney, it changed the relationship... It comes down to corporations playing with each other. As much as we know those people, and they like us and we like them, we are dealing with billion dollar companies that could care less what we think and how well we know each other."

Senreich said that they will still poke fun at Star Wars, just in a shortened version – at least, for now:

"For a regular episode of the show, it's parody so it's no different from say Saturday Night Live making fun of any of these properties. But to do a full episode of an actual property, we would need the agreement of that company."

Senreich is excited to return to the Star Wars universe for the upcoming season 9, since they haven't had a chance to parody some of the more recent films, such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One. As for what Robot Chicken might have in store for Star Wars fans, he hinted:

"It's definitely our nerd character's perspective on Episode VII. I think he represents the fans, the good, the bad, and the ugly about that one. We have a couple of other little things I'm trying not to spoil. There's some fun Darth Vader stuff coming up. Some fun Vader stuff that ties into Rogue One that I really enjoyed."

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Season 9 of Robot Chicken is said to be “coming soon,” but no premiere date has been announced.