Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Star Wars: Underworld

1/18/12 – Blastr.com reported that George Lucas and his producing partner Rick McCallum are peeling back the lid on the live-action Star Wars TV series that's been in development for years.  Called Star Wars: Underworld, there are about 50-some-odd scripts which take place between Episodes III and IV, and they're just waiting for Lucas to pull the trigger. McCallum describes it: "Underworld is much darker than the movies. It's a much more adult series. I think, thematically, in terms of characters and what they go through, it will be ... if we can ever get it together and George really wants to pursue it, it'll be the most awesome part of the whole franchise, personally ... It's Empire Strikes Back on steroids.  Obviously, we changed it for where we couldn't go in terms of language. It was to be serious performances, very complicated relationships, unbelievable issues of power and corruption, greed, vanity, pride, ego manifesting itself at levels that only equal the world that we live in now, but, as I said, on steroids.  Basically, it is like The Godfather; it's the Empire slowly building up its power base around the galaxy, what happens in Coruscant, which is the major capital, and it's a group of underground bosses who live there and control drugs, prostitution.  This is the best way to put it into perspective: we did Episode III—which is one of the larger of all the Star Wars films in relation to set construction, visual effects, the amount of visual effects and everything else—and that was made for $100 million which was unheard of even five years ago, because had it been made by any studio or anywhere in the United States it would have been easily double that price. So imagine an hour's episode with more digital animation and more visual effects and more complicated in terms of set design and costume design than a two-hour movie that takes us three years to make, and we have to do that every week and we only have $5 million to do it. That's our challenge."

3/19/10 - A live-action Star Wars TV series will arrive very soon.  The Chicago Tribune reports that work is progressing on the series, with writers working on scripts for the proposed first season.  Lucas and executive producer Rick McCallum want all the scripts for the show's first season to be completed before production begins.  But work on the unnamed show's scripts appears to be at an advanced stage.  The show would be set between the eras of Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, will not feature any major characters from the film series.  The show is not currently casting and won’t until the scripts are complete.

3/18/09 - Jay Laga'aia is talking to George Lucas about a role in a live-action Star Wars television series next year, the New Zealand-based newspaper the Dominion Post reported.  Lucas had previously cast Laga'aia as Captain Gregar Typho, Amidala's head of sercurity, in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. It's unclear if he's in talks to reprise the role or to play a different one.  The series will reportedly follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the evil Empire. The newspaper also reported that the show is a basic cable TV series and that it will feature stormtroopers but not Jedi knights or Darth Vader. Lucas is currently casting for the series.

3/11/09 - MTV News reports that casting for a live-action Star Wars TV series is currently underway.  News of the potential production first surfaced in 2005 while George Lucas was promoting Revenge of the Sith, but work on the Clones Wars animated feature film and Cartoon Network series took creative precedence.  In late 2007, Lucas revealed that he and his team were about to begin writing scripts for the live-action show.  According to MTV News, Rose Byrne let slip that Team Lucas is casting a wide net for actors to join the show. "A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it," she said.  Asked whether she planned to audition, Byrne replied, "I don't know if I look that good in space."

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