While last week’s report about JJ Abrams possibly returning to direct Star Wars: Episode IX was sending the internet into all forms of speculation, our buds over at Making Star Wars dropped a quick scoop about how the House of Mouse is currently preparing for work on a live-action Star Wars show:

Oh yeah, my source also mentioned that a television series based in the Star Wars universe like Marvel’s Agents of Shield is ramping up a bit. I assume they don’t mean the premise is like Agents of Shield.

This is largely what we’ve been hearing too. We’ve heard for a while that Disney has been actively trying to get a Star Wars live-action series off the ground, and the fact that this news is popping up again means something changed or was figured out. This sent me digging for more and I’ve come up with some information on the development of the series that you may find interesting.

I’ll warn you now, it’s nothing Earth-shattering (like plot info or start date), but it does show us about where they are in the process, why we’re hearing about it now, and the liklihood that we won’t see it anytime in the near future. I’ve heard from a couple sources now that until the film schedules have all been ironed out (we’ve got at least two movies getting that sorted now), the show is in a holding pattern.

But why would the movie shooting schedules matter to them? That’s pretty simple. The plan is to film the TV show at Pinewood between the movies, with the intention of using the film sets for the series during down time. This makes a lot of sense, as reusing the sets for multiple purposes can save a bunch of money for production and maintain a sense of continuity, visually, between the movies and show.

In order to make that work, they need to know how long they can film for between movies. Once they do, budgeting for the show can begin in earnest. Obviously, without a budget or timeframe in place the show can’t do a whole lot at this point, which is why I say we probably won’t see it for a little while still.

As I mentioned, the fact that we’re hearing reports of the live-action TV show again means that something has changed…and it kind of has. There’s no real “greenlight” for a live-action series at this point, but from all I’ve heard, the story group and development teams are operating under the idea that a show IS happening. Ideas are being developed and I’ve even heard about them actively trying to use one of the book characters in the series as well…but I’ll have more on that later this week.

The problem at this point with the show, is timing. The fact that a live-action show is happening is pretty much assured, but it can’t move forward with scheduling or budget until more of the film timing has been worked out. Lucasfilm is playing the long game with Star Wars, and has a very intricate plan for connecting their universe in a variety of ways. They’re hard at work, so hopefully we’ll hear more about this new TV series before long, but don’t expect to see it next year or anything. My bet (pure speculation here), is the earliest we’ll see is the 2017 TV season.

Like I said, nothing Earth-shattering, but a good update on what’s happening in terms of a Star Wars live-action series. Of course, as we hear more, or if anything changes, we’ll be sure to update you all!

-Jordan