Star Wars : Underworld Star Wars : Underworld is the working title of a proposed live - action television series that would be set during the timespan between the films and . George Lucas first announced the series at 2005 ' s Celebration III . Over the next few years , a variety of writers were hired , over fifty scripts were written and art designers worked on visualizing Lucas ' ideas . However , in 2010 , Lucas announced that the series was on hold due to budget constraints . Plot summary . " Star Wars : Underworld " is said to be set primarily in the Coruscant underworld ( which was briefly glimpsed during ) , in the time period between and . It is during this period that the Galactic Empire rises to ultimate power throughout the galaxy . In 2005 , George Lucas told Celebration III audiences that the show would not focus on any characters from the films , but that some of them could appear ; " A lot of the issues from the films are connected , but you won ' t necessarily see a lot of the people that are connected . " He later described the show as " bare - bones " and " action - heavy , " and explained that it would depict what the inhabitants of the " Star Wars " galaxy do for entertainment . Producer Rick McCallum commented on the plot of the series : " [ Lucas ] envisions somewhere like 100 hours between Episode III and Episode IV with a lot of characters that we haven ' t met that have been developed in some of the novels and other things . We are really excited about that . Finally , we could have the opportunity to answer everybody ' s questions once and for all by the time we finish the series . " ; " It is going to be much darker , grittier . It ' s much more character - based " ; " Think about bounty hunter , that ' s all I can tell you . " He also called it " " " in space " and " " " on steroids , " < ref name = " COL ( 2012 / 01 ) " > < / ref > and compared it to " " . Lucasfilm ' s Steve Sansweet also described the series as revealing the " greasy , seamy underbelly of Star Wars . " According to Dan Wasson , project leader for the version of the , the TV series may contain elements from the overall . In 2014 , Stephen Scaia revealed in his campaign that he had been a writer for the series , and was involved in several story elements , including Lando Calrissian losing the " Millennium Falcon " to Han Solo , Solo and Chewbacca ' s first meeting , as well as an action scene with Boba Fett . Cast and characters . The series was expected to feature minor characters from both the films and the Expanded Universe — with possible by some of the main characters . Lucas : " The Emperor and Darth Vader are heard about — people talk about them — but you never see them because it doesn ' t take place where they actually are . There are stormtroopers and all that , but there are no Jedi s . " Lucas had originally written a scene for " Revenge of the Sith " involving the Expanded Universe character Quinlan Vos , but the character received only a mention in the final film . Lucas himself later instructed the writers of the " " comic book series to " not " kill off the character . This has led some fans to speculate that Vos may play a role in the series , although " Republic " writer Randy Stradley later clarified that he wasn ' t sure if the character would have appeared and had heard that a different character to Vos might have appeared . In an interview in the November 2005 edition of the UK magazine " Total Film " magazine , McCallum was asked " How can Leia claim to remember her mother when Padmé dies in childbirth in " Sith " ? , " to which he replied " I think that could only be answered in the television series . " After being impressed by her work on " The Han Solo Trilogy " , Lucasfilm asked A . C . Crispin for her ideas on possible further books . She proposed a book series that would have focused on Leia between " Revenge of the Sith " and " A New Hope " , but " Lucasfilm didn ' t approve the idea of a Leia backstory because they want to keep that era of the SW continuity untouched for the television series they ' re considering . " Karen Traviss was to write a novel involving Boba Fett , but the project was reportedly canceled because of possible conflicts with the TV series . Multiple actors from the films voiced their interest in playing a role : Jeremy Bulloch ( Boba Fett ) , Jay Laga ' aia ( Gregar Typho ) , Daniel Logan ( young Boba Fett ) , Peter Mayhew ( Chewbacca ) , and Ian McDiarmid ( The Emperor ) . For a time , Logan underwent physical training with Ray Park ( Darth Maul ) , in anticipation of reprising his role as Boba Fett , while in the other hand , Bulloch also expressed interest in play an alter ego of Boba Fett as he thought that Logan would play him in the series due his age . " The Phantom Menace " actors Andrew Secombe , Lewis MacLeod and Christian Simpson had also expressed interest in repeat their roles as Watto , Sebulba and Gavyn Sykes respectively for the series . On the other hand , however , Billy Dee Williams refused to reprise his role as Lando Calrissian again nor play the character ' s uncle as he had established the character , although he hinted in 2005 that he could return to play Lando as an older man , as he presumably didn ' t know in which place of the timeline the series would be set . In 2006 , Toby Philpott , who puppeted Jabba Desilijic Tiure in " Return of the Jedi " , like Williams , doubt very much that he could puppet Jabba again as he supposed that the series would be made at the USA . That same year , other actors who appeared in " Jedi " , like mime artist Tim Dry ( J ' Quille ) , Mercedes Ngoh , ( Rystáll Sant in the film ' s 1997 DVD release ) , Mike Quinn ( Nien Nunb , Ten Numb , Wokling , Re - Yees , Wol Cabasshite and Sy Snootles ) , and Simon Williamson ( Max Rebo and Jubnuk ) , expressed interest in have roles or reprise their original roles in " Jedi " for the series . In January 2010 , Paul Blake stated during an interview that he would like very much to reprise his role as Greedo in the series , although he hadn ' t been contacted so far to do so . Members of the cast outside the films ( or those who played minor roles in the films ) have also expressed interest in the series ; " Star Wars : The Force Unleashed " actor Sam Witwer wanted to appear ( possibly as Galen Marek , Vader ' s secret apprentice ) , and hinted in an interview that he would indeed be involved . Likewise , Adrienne Wilkinson showed interest in seeing her charcter of Maris Brood in the series . In 2007 , Shannon McRandle , who modeled as Mara Jade Skywalker for the " Star Wars " card games , expressed her desire to audition to play the role of Jade in the series in order to develop her between Episodes III and IV . On March 9 , 2009 , actress Rose Byrne , who appeared in " Attack of the Clones " , told that casting for the series was underway , and that some of her friends had auditioned for roles . However , " Star Wars Insider 109 " claimed that scripts had yet to be written at that point , and would precede any earnest casting efforts , contradicting Byrne ' s claims . Development . Prior to the release of the original " Star Wars " film in 1977 , rumors began circulating that a TV series would be produced based on the film . Although such a project never came to fruition , George Lucas became involved ( to varying degrees ) in three live - action " Star Wars " television productions : " The Star Wars Holiday Special " , " " , and " " . While the " Holiday Special " was a critical failure , both " Ewok " films won Emmy awards and had a positive critical reaction . In each case , the networks saw the productions as for possible television series , though Lucas wasn ' t interested . From 1992 to 1996 , Lucas produced the television series " " , during which he developed a love of making television . In late 2004 , rumors again began to circulate of a live - action " Star Wars " series in development . Lucas officially announced his plans for a live - action " Star Wars " television series at Celebration III , saying " We probably won ' t start that until sometime next year . " He also spoke of plans for set during the Clone Wars , which he expected to be produced first . Also at the event , Rick McCallum elaborated ; " He [ George ] envisions somewhere like 100 hours between Episode III and Episode IV . " However , at 2007 ' s Celebration Europe , McCallum claimed that the plan was to produce " up to 400 episodes " . He also revealed that " I ' ve had three conceptual artists working on it now for about seven months . " The original plan was for the first season to be entirely written and produced before shopping the series to broadcast networks ; After a network was committed , work would commence on the following seasons . Writing . Lucas and McCallum interviewed over 200 prospective " writers of real significance " from all over the world — including , the , , , and . McCallum remarked , " It ' s about who ' s talented , who ' s got the strength to challenge George and also , much more importantly , what ' s the dynamics of the five or six people . If they can let go of their ego and work toward a specific goal . Sometimes you think ' I ' m sick of writing alone . ' Everyone has their ebb and flow . We ' re trying to get everyone in their peak . " Writers from " " , " " , and " " , as well as those from the " Star Wars " books and comics , were considered as part of the final interview process in late 2007 . In the end , six writers were hired — including Terry Cafolla , Chris Chibnall , Louise Fox , Tony McNamara , Fiona Seres , Matthew Graham , Ronald D . Moore , and Stephen Scaia — and were expected to start work in November 2007 . Former " " writer was asked to write for the show , but turned it down due to his desire to do his own projects in a different style to both franchises ; however , he did claim to be jealous of whoever ended up being hired . After the writers were hired , story outlines took shape over the next three months . McCallum expected the first writing conference to occur in late 2007 , and sessions had began by August 2008 . The writers worked closely with the art department ( including concept artist Erik Tiemens ) , which had been working to design sets , environments , vehicles and aliens since 2007 . Ronald D . Moore commented on the writing process : " The scripts were written as if money was no object . George was like , ' Don ' t worry about it . ' [ Producer Rick McCallum ] would groan and put his head in his hands periodically . So for us it was like , ' Okay , f – k it , let ' s write whatever we want . ' " Lucas originally wanted a season ' s worth of 25 scripts , but eventually extended this to 50 ( i . e . two season ' s worth , with 25 episodes per season ) . In the end , fifty hours worth of episodes plus a " " were written , all in various stages of development . In a January 2012 interview with , McCallum revealed the working title to be " Underworld " , which had originally served as the working title for an early concept for " Star Wars : The Force Unleashed " . McCallum denied this the next day , though he later told " Entertainment Weekly " that it was indeed the working title . Filming . McCallum expected that he and Lucas would approach the series in a similar manner as they had " The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles " . Like on that earlier series , they hoped to give each episode the look of a feature film , with feature - level production values and visual effects on a television budget . Lucas also talked of using the show as a template for how he would approach " more personal films " that he hoped to create . In 2005 , Lucas stated his intentions to shoot the series using consumer - level cameras , which McCallum said would be high - definition cameras . In late 2009 , Lucas and McCallum invited filmmaker Phillip Bloom to Skywalker Ranch to advise on using different types of cameras for pick - up photography on " " , and for the live - action series . Lucas expected that , in producing the show , he would " do what would typically cost $ 20 million , for $ 1 million . " According to IESB , McCallum has said that each episode will have a budget of 2 - 4 million dollars . Principal photography was planned to take place all around the world , with a likely base in . In respect to the stunts , prequel trilogy stunt coordinators Nick Gillard and Kyle Rowling expressed interest in 2006 in working on the series as fighting directors . On the other hand , prequel trilogy special effects technician Matt Sloan hinted the possibility to return in order to do the series ' visual effects . McCallum originally expected production to begin in either 2008 or 2009 . He expected the first season to consist of thirteen - to - sixteen episodes , shot over a one - to - two - year time period . In March 2009 , preliminary casting was still underway ; a Lucasfilm representative claimed at the time that official casting would begin once the scripts were complete and that the series would not go into production until 2010 . In a June 2011 interview , McCallum said that the show would most likely be filmed in the Czech Republic , a location used multiple times by LucasFilm for various productions . Reportedly , Jim Marquand , son of director Richard Marquand , was hired as one of the directors . McCallum expected that each episode of the series would have its own original score , and hoped that John Williams would return as composer . At a 2010 screening of " The Empire Strikes Back " in , Lucas announced that the series was " on hold " due to budget concerns . Lucas and McCallum later elaborated that the scripts were prohibitively expensive for television , and that the show was put on hold in order to wait on technology to develop to the point that costs could be kept relatively low . Lucas had long planned to build an expansion to his Lucas Valley property called Grady Ranch , which would have been " a digital media production facility for movies and television . " However , in early 2012 , Marin County rejected the project due to concerns over traffic and noise . On October 30 , 2012 , The Walt Disney Company announced an agreement to acquire Lucasfilm , including the rights to the " Star Wars " franchise . < ref name = " WDC ( 2012 / 10 ) " > < / ref > In a conference call following the press release , Disney expressed interest in the potential of a " Star Wars " television series , but did not go into details . < ref name = " IGN ( 2012 / 10 ) " > Goldman , Eric . " Star Wars TV : Disney XD Will Air Future Programming - IGN " IGN . com , October 2012 . < / ref > Soon after , it was announced that McCallum had retired from Lucasfilm . In January 2013 , ABC president told " " that the live - action " Star Wars " series was being reevaluated for production . This was confirmed by that March . That August , Lee again visited the topic of a " Star Wars " live - action series ; " We ' ve started conversations . I ' d love to go there . I ' m a particular fan of Lucasfilm . It ' s an amazing world " . Other ABC executives , however , later reiterated this in 2016 and 2017 . In December 2015 , Kathleen Kennedy told that Lucasfilm had been looking at the material for both " Underworld " and the canceled video game " " , and that those projects may still be developed . On November 9 , 2017 , " " reported that Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger revealed during the company ' s quarterly earnings call that Disney is planning a live - action " Star Wars " TV series to air on its entertainment streaming service that is expected to launch by the end of 2019 , which will be written and produced by Jon Favreau . Release and legacy . In a 2006 interview , Steve Sansweet said that he expected the series to be released " toward the end of the decade . " He gave the time period until release to be " about 3 years . " A teaser image for the series was shown at 2007 , advertising the next three years of " Star Wars " : the 30th anniversary of the saga and the release of " The Force Unleashed " in 2007 ( which was ultimately pushed back to 2008 ) , the new " Clone Wars " TV series in 2008 , and the live - action series in 2009 . Rick McCallum expected the series to be released simultaneously worldwide and to be broadcast on cable . Both Disney and were rumored to have shown interest in acquiring broadcast rights for the show , with the former offering ABC and and the latter offering and . Additionally , Lucas voiced his interest in distributing the series via the Internet — specifically StarWars . com . At 2005 ' s Celebration III , Lucas told audiences that if the live - action series ( along with the new " Clone Wars " animated series ) was successful , more series could follow . At 2007 ' s Celebration Europe , McCallum explained that " One of the ideas is that we ' ll have multiple series going on in about two or three years ' time . " McCallum said he hoped that after the series ' second or third year , a character could have his / her own spin - off series , and by the fourth or fifth year , the production staff could have at least five separate series running . Lucas described the series as " one show that will split into four shows , focusing on different characters . " Comments from Lucasfilm employees ( such as Sue Rostoni and Jim Ward ) had hinted that tie - ins such as spin - off books and video games were planned . The canceled video game " " was originally conceived as a direct tie - in to " Underworld " ; After " Underworld " was postponed in 2010 due to budget constraints , " 1313 " was altered to be its own distinct project . However , at George Lucas ' s request , the final game was to have still taken inspiration from elements of " Underworld " . " The Clone Wars " introduced Level 1313 , as well as the character Saw Gerrera , who was also conceived for " Underworld " . The animated series " Star Wars Rebels " was influenced by ideas developed by Lucas for " Underworld " . According to James Luceno , Palpatine ' s first name , " Sheev " ( which he revealed in his 2014 novel " Tarkin " ) , was reportedly created by Lucas for the show . The Church of the Force — a background element related to Lor San Tekka from — was created by Lucas for " Underworld " . John Knoll originally developed the concept for " " in the mid - 2000 s during the production of the prequel trilogy , in the hopes that it could be an episode of the live - action series . The film " " will show the first meeting between Han Solo and Chewbacca along Lando Calrissian losing the " Millennium Falcon " to Solo , two stories which were originally planned for " Underworld " .