George Lucas Made A Star Wars Series Disney Won’t Release
A George Lucas Star Wars series that's long been rumored for release isn't going to see the light of day. It's a disappointing update
This article is more than 2 years old
A long-mothballed Star Wars project, which George Lucas had a major hand in, looks like it is going to stay hidden away for longer, maybe even forever. In a world in which Star Wars series are in a state of heightened development, it seems impossible to think that there would be a fully-produced Star Wars property just sitting there to never see the light of day. But that’s the case with Star Wars Detours which didn’t get a great update via original creator Seth Green.
Back in 2012, Star Wars and George Lucas were in the middle of reimagining some of the stories in the franchise and still branching out with different looks at the iconic characters. One of those came in the form of Star Wars Detours which had LucasFilm partnering with Robot Chickens‘ Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for an animated comedy series about Darth Vader and other characters in the franchise. But it was never released. Seth Green recently gave an update to Entertainment Weekly and things don’t look good for when we might ever see it. Here is part of what he had to say:
The most recent conversations I’ve had with anybody who would be in a position to say so say that it’s not soon…there are 39 episodes that were finished for broadcast. But we finished them almost 10 years ago, and so there would have to be a bit of reconfiguring of the existing stuff to make it something that Disney+ would release as a Lucasfilm offering. And the way it’s been explained to me is that there hasn’t been enough interest high enough up to go through what it would take to put it out, and that there isn’t an interest in releasing this content on Disney+ from Lucasfilm.
With 39 episodes in the can, it seems like this would be a no-brainer with where the Star Wars universe is these days, especially considering George Lucas had a big hand in the story. But the logistical piece makes sense as well. In 2012, after Detours had been created and produced, Disney went through with the purchase of Lucasfilm on a mega-deal that changed the trajectory of the Star Wars franchise. They would go on to make the sequel trilogy and then ultimately, start the Disney+ series that are gaining massive steam.
Green is referring to the work he and George Lucas did as having to be reworked because the story has changed significantly over time. Originally, Star Wars Detours was set in a timeline following Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV – A New Hope. The general thesis was that it would follow regular folks in and around the Empire who had dealings with Darth Vader and his crew. It was meant to be a silly venture and based on the creative team, likely had a ton of laughs.
There was some talk recently that Star Wars Detours was actually going to get released on Disney+ and considering the new-Mandalorian-inspired timelines around the original George Lucas stories lent some credence to that idea. Disney+ is also set to release productions in this timeline with Obi-Wan Kenobi as well a potential Darth Vader series as well. But if continuity is an issue, there’s almost no way Detours lines up with the current stories in development. This could be the “interest” piece Green is referring to. No one appears to want to go back and do the work.
Knowing there’s a full, almost-40 episode Star Wars series with George Lucas at the helm just sitting out there is a tough pill to swallow. Again, it seems inconceivable that we would never get to see it in any form. But studios can be odd like this and Star Wars seems to be working with a strict set of rules around projects coming out within the franchise.
