Producer Rick McCallum Says Star Wars Live-Action TV Series Is on Hold; Compares the Story to The Godfather
Posted 06.15.11 by BrentJS
There has been talk of a live-action TV series set in the "galaxy far, far away" of George Lucas's mega-popular Star Wars movie franchise for ages, but the first indication that it might actually happen was when Lucas began hiring writers for a planned 13-episode first season. That was nearly four years ago, so what happened? In a recent interview with CzechPostition (via BleedingCool), producer Rick McCallum revealed that considerable progress was made on the series, but that it is now "on hold" because it is "so ambitious" that it will cost too much money to make it with current technology.
We have 50 hours of third-draft scripts, but the problem we have is there is a lot of digital animation; we don’t have the technology yet to be able to do them at a price that is safe for television. Since we would be financing them, it would be suicide for us to do this… So we are going to wait three or four years.
McCallum also hinted that the storyline of the series will revolve around crime lords on Coruscant, the city-planet that serves as the political center of the Empire, even comparing it to Francis Ford Coppola's multiple Academy Award-winning 1972 gangster movie.
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.
The idea of delving into the even seedier underbelly of the Star Wars universe following the demise of the Jedis is a really intriguing idea, so here's hoping there is still room for scripted programming on TV by the time Lucas and McCallum get around to making this series.