ABC talking with Lucasfilm about potential Star Wars TV series

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

We'll never really know how close we got to having a live-action STAR WARS television series over the years. The project was commissioned by producer Rick McCallum awhile back, and 50 scripts were written for what was at the time known as STAR WARS: UNDERWORLD. However, the cost of the series was rather expensive, given what would be needed for costume, effects and so forth, and there were no takers (even HBO passed at the time, because it wouldn't be enough of their series; it'll still be mostly owned by Lucasfilm). But how near the finish line was any deal to happening that might have worked and brought STAR WARS to our TV screens?

The time has come and gone, but a STAR WARS television series is back on the table with ABC talking with Lucasfilm about a potential something. ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey revealed as much as the TCA press tour, confirming conversations with the brass at Lucasfilm to bring something to their network schedule. 

“The conversations with Lucas, we have had conversations with them and will continue to have conversations with them. I think it would be wonderful if we could find a way to extend that brand into our programming… It’s all a little bit hush-hush. That company exists under a big shroud of secrecy. If you feel Marvel’s secretive, [Lucasfilm] takes it to a whole other level … [Talks] are ongoing. We don’t have an official timeline yet.”

There were no further details about what this series could possibly be, but you'd have to imagine this would stretch beyond the animated series that have already extended the STAR WARS Galaxy on Disney XD. Could this be a revival of that UNDERWORLD series that has the work invested in it already and is just sitting around collecting dust in an archive vault somewhere? 

That series was set to take place on Coruscant between the prequels and Original Trilogy, giving us a taste of the seedy underbelly of STAR WARS as rival families and gangs fought for control. Sounds like the perfect subject matter for what they might like to do with their standalones or STAR WARS Stories as it is. 

Talks have happened in the past, and it never led to anything we had the opportunity to see. Perhaps this time will be different. May the Force be with us as we find out.