Lucasfilm is developing multiple new Star Wars television shows. Fans of the galaxy far, far away barely had time to digest the Solo: A Star Wars Story teaser trailer before getting flooded with news about new projects today. Earlier, the studio announced Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have been hired to write and produce a series of feature films that will have no connection to either the Skywalker saga or Rian Johnson's in-development film trilogy. Kathleen Kennedy has quite a full plate as she looks to expand Star Wars' output on the big screen, but the franchise is looking at the small screen as well.
Late last year, it was revealed there should be a live-action Star Wars TV series ready for 2019, when Disney will launch their own streaming service to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu. However, Lucasfilm isn't going to stop at just a single program and have a whole lot currently in the works.
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The news comes courtesy ABC's Clayton Sandell, who tweeted the quote of none other than Mouse House CEO Bob Iger on the matter. You can see his post in the space below:
One of these is almost assuredly a new animated series to take the place of Star Wars Rebels, which is just about to wrap up its fourth and final season. Just a few days ago, Lucasfilm Animation posted a job opening for an episodic director to oversee an upcoming show. It isn't surprising the studio would be looking to add to their already rich legacy in the animation realm, as both the Clone Wars and Rebels series found great success. With the movies shifting gears to focus on new characters separate from what's come before, it'll be interesting to see if the TV shows follow suit. There are gaps that exist within the Skywalker saga timeline, but novels and comics can be used to fill those in if the story group so chooses. The galaxy is a place of infinite possibilities, so creators shouldn't feel boxed in.
The clarification there are "a few" series in the works means there could be more than two shows coming through the pipeline, but this picture should become clearer in the near future. It might be for the best if Lucasfilm takes its time on the small screen side of things and doesn't push ahead with too many shows all at once. The franchise is a proven commodity at the movies, but less so in live-action TV. Their Disney brethren Marvel have had rough sledding on that front (for every Agents of SHIELD, there's an Inhumans), and that could serve as a cautionary tale. Of course, "in development" isn't the same thing as green lit, so perhaps the first live-action series will be a test run to determine which others actually come into fruition.
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Source: Clayton Sandell
