Star Wars is one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history, and it has only been getting bigger in recent years. The saga has unfolded on the big screen with films and on the small screen with animated series like The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Now we have some very exciting news about the future of Star Wars on TV: a live-action series is in the works.
A live-action Star Wars television show is finally happening after many years of talk and speculation. Variety reports that Disney chairman Bob Iger broke the big news during Disney's quarterly earnings call. The TV series is slated to debut on the Disney streaming service that is intended to launch at some point before the end of 2019.
It was announced back in August that Disney would be pulling a number of its properties (including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from Netflix in order to start its own streaming service. The project was bold, and we learned that it would take an awful lot of subscribers for the service to theoretically break even. More recent reports indicate that the new streaming service could attract around 30 million -- yes, million -- subscribers over the next decade for a value of approximately $25 billion. All things considered, a Star Wars TV show in live-action could go a long way in boosting the number of subscribers early on.
For a while, it seemed like there was no way a live-action Star Wars show could ever happen. The focus of the franchise was on the movies, and such a show would be tricky to produce. There was also talk of another animated series. News of a live-action TV show should get Star Wars fans pretty excited.
In fact, the news of the live-action TV show comes at an ideal time for existing fans of Star Wars on the small screen. The current Star Wars series is Star Wars Rebels, which has been going strong for several years now. Unfortunately, the show is currently airing its fourth and final season, and a major tragedy for the characters is almost certainly coming. Even if the live-action show won't come until 2019, we can take solace in knowing that it's in the works. Throw in the fact that this is something that has never been done in the franchise before, and there's a lot to look forward to.
We'll have to wait and see what kind of show this will be. The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels both featured characters existing in the original and prequel movie trilogies. The live-action show could go an entirely original route, dabble in earlier eras, or bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Who knows? Maybe the show could be set in the same timeline as the sequel trilogy, just not entirely connected to the events that we see on the big screen. Only time will tell. Bob Iger also announced a new trilogy of Star Wars movies.
You can catch Star Wars action even sooner than the live-action show on Disney's streaming service. Star Wars Rebels airs new episodes on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Disney XD, and The Last Jedi will hit theaters on December 15.
