A live-action Star Wars television show may one day grace the small screen, but its launch day is still far, far away.
That’s the word from ABC TV’s Ben Sherwood, who was asked about the possibility of a Star Wars live-action TV show by The Hollywood Reporter this week.
“The Star Wars plan rests in the hands of [Walt Disney Studios chairman] Alan Horn, [Lucasfilm president] Kathy Kennedy and the great folks at Lucasfilm,” he said. “Somewhere we hope in a galaxy not too far away there will be a television show that will air on one of our networks.”
He warns that no one should be holding their breath. “I wouldn’t get anybody’s hopes up too high,” he cautioned. “They have a lot of movies to make between now and then. We are deep into a very productive relationship with Lucasfilm making [Disney XD’s] Star Wars Rebels. And we are in ongoing conversations with them on what is the next Star Wars animated show.”
Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2013 was a big moment for the Star Wars studio. It birthed a new trilogy (beginning with The Force Awakens), a spinoff film series (beginning with this December’s Rogue One), and numerous other #brand offshoots, like a forthcoming Star Wars land at Disneyland.
Disney is obviously all-in on Star Wars, and a live action TV series set somewhere in the franchise’s universe makes perfect sense. We are, after all, in a golden (and crowded) age for television. Their sister studio, Marvel, has had lots of success on TV in recent years.
Side note: Could you imagine if the Star Wars TV show went to Netflix? Hot damn.
What kind of live-action Star Wars TV series would you like to see?
Word of a new Star Wars TV show has previously surfaced — first in 2013 and then last month, when ABC’s President said talks were happening.