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Top ABC Exec Hints About the Next ‘Star Wars’ TV Series

Aug 5, 2013  •  Post A Comment

ABC and Lucasfilm have been talking about a new "Star Wars" television series, Reuters reports, with ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee mentioning the potential project over the weekend at the Television Critics Association press tour.

Lee told critics Sunday: "We’ve started conversations with [Lucasfilm]. I have an inkling in my mind, but they have a lot on their plate."

The report notes: "Disney bought Lucasfilm in October for $4.1 billion and has said it intends to make a seventh ‘Star Wars’ film in 2015 and a new one every two or three years thereafter."

Reuters adds: "This autumn, ABC will begin airing ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,’ it’s first network program based on Marvel comic book characters since Disney paid $4.2 billion to buy the comic book and film studio in 2009."

A Cinema Blend report connects the two projects this way: "To see how a live-action ‘Star Wars’ show might shake out on ABC, you need only look at ‘Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.,’ the ‘Avengers’ spinoff that’s one of the network’s biggest fall premieres. A way to keep the world of Marvel superheroes alive on the small screen without having to shell out big bucks for Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is a natural extension of the ever-growing Marvel Universe — but it’s also unclear whether audiences are interested in superhero stories that have no actual superheroes in them. A ‘Star Wars’ TV spinoff would be different, of course, but Lucasfilm will obviously be eyeing ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ to see what might work for them when their time comes."

Cinema Blend cautions that the project may face a long timeline, noting: "’Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is premiering a full five years after the debut of ‘Iron Man,’ which kicked off the expansive Marvel Universe that’s still expanding today. ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ isn’t due in theaters until 2015, and if the ‘Iron Man’ model holds, that would put a live-action TV series five years after that."

But the piece adds that given the familiarity factor with "Star Wars," a new series could be ready to go for the fall after the premiere of "Episode VII."

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