Immediately after Disney had announced a new Star Wars movie trilogy from The Last Jedi director, Rian Johnson, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger had told investors on a quarterly earnings conference call that the studio is currently developing a Star Wars live-action TV Show as well. The series is now being planned for this studio’s new streaming service, that will be launched by the end of 2019. While details about the show have not been given out yet, there are many rumors about a live-action Star Wars TV show and it seems this is coming to fruition.
Disney had announced in August that it will end its streaming deal with Netflix as the company plans to start its own streaming service. Yet another report from September had claimed that Marvel and Star Wars movies will help launch Disney’s new streaming service, despite reports that claim that Netflix was in talks with Disney to keep Marvel and LucasFilm movies. In addition to the Star Wars TV series, Disney is currently developing a TV show based on the Pixar movie, Monsters Inc., the High School Musical franchise and an unspecified “original entry” from Marvel.
There have been talks of a live-action Star Wars TV series for many years now, with reports which say that George Lucas was developing a live-action Star Wars TV show with ABC before he had sold LucasFilm for $4 billion in 2012. Despite the rumors, including one in 2015 that had claimed LucasFilm and Netflix were developing three live-action Star Wars TV shows, none of the rumors had come to fruition. There was talk that a Star Wars show may be developed for the Disney-owned ABC network, but it now seems like the studio is focusing on kick-starting their nascent streaming service with a new Star Wars show.
On the small screen, the Star Wars franchise has found a lot of success, with many hit animated shows led by Star Wars Rebels, which is in its final season, although there have been talks that a new Star Wars animated series will soon be announced to take its place. Animated shows like LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures and LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises have been very popular, but fans have been craving a weekly Star Wars live-action series for a long time. It seems like Disney and LucasFilm are now getting ready to give fans what they have always wanted, but there are still many questions that need to be answered.
For one, where in this expansive Star Wars timeline will the show be set? The departing series Star Wars Rebels was set in the same timeline as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which led to a crossover with Forest Whitaker coming aboard to voice the Saw Gerrera character from Rogue One. With a live-action show, it is now a possibility that fans can see the stars of their favorite Star Wars movies pop up for guest-starring appearances and/or cameos, which will help draw viewers to the show. As of now, very little is known, with Variety breaking this news today. Hopefully fans find out more from Disney and LucasFilm about this new Star Wars TV series very soon.
