My best friend Randy and I walked in snow, rain, and everything else that night in Indiana. We were lined up to see George Lucas. I don’t care about seeing actors or writers. But this was different. This was George Lucas. We had to see him. After a painful night, we saw him and he promised us Revenge of the Sith wasn’t the end of Star Wars. There would be a cartoon and a live action series. The cartoon (which I now love deeply) went right over my head; a live action Star Wars series was something I wanted right then. Now, some ten years later, I still think about it and what it could be.

Peter at Slash Film talked to Kathleen Kennedy and just shared:

During my chat I learned that the company is still spending a lot of time looking, discussing and developing two of the most notorious left-over projects from the George Lucas era: the live-action Star Wars TV show Star Wars: Underworld and the Star Wars 1313 video game.

This makes me very happy. The concept of Star Wars: Underworld is one I always wanted to see. The series was going to delve into the gangs, prostitution, and crime that in turn funded the way certain rebel groups were able to obtain illicit weapons during the age of intergalactic imperialism in the Star Wars universe. We saw some of the threads picked up on by Star Wars: The Clone Wars and even races developed for the series like the Pykes featured in animated form. But the series was always deemed too expensive or the people who could pay for it wanted to own it and we all know George Lucas refused to be beholden to any corporation once he freed himself from such a system.

At one point, the series was going to branch out and tell the stories of other aspects of the universe with spin-off shows that would have showed us Imperial life and Rebel life, if the rumors were to be believed. They developed things like how Han got the Falcon, met Chewbacca and Lando; things surely being moved to the spin-off films now. On top of that they talked about what a huge presence Boba Fett was going to have in the series on the Nerdist podcast sometime ago. The best part? All of this was going to be put on by show runner Ronald D. Moore of Battlestar Galactica fame.

Kathleen Kennedy told Slash Film:

No. No, interestingly enough, thats an area we’ve spent a lot of time, reading through the material that he developed is something we very much would like to explore. And there was 1313 the game, where there was… Unbelievable. So our attitude is, we don’t want to throw any of that stuff away. It’s gold. And it’s something we’re spending a lot of time looking at, pouring through, discussing, and we may very well develop those things further. We definitely want to.

Most of my interest in 1313 was based on the idea that it would give me insight into Underworld. I’m all for this happening still and I hope it is. I think the work of George Lucas is something to be celebrated and used as a guide for the areas in which he wrote about Star Wars.

Yes, we want Deadwood in space; even if that show is somewhat forgotten today, it set a standard. I hope the tone and feeling is carried on when they do bring that series to life.

Check out Peter’s article at Slash Film.