New animated series coming?

[Buzz Bumble]

Disney have basically shutdown LucasAnimation (reportedly sending everyone home) and closed LucasArts ... but there is a new hope.

Apparently The Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni has given an interview where he says he is in talks for a new animated Star Wars show. This is from IGN.com ...

Filoni goes on to explain, “At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”

Filoni couldn't say much more about it, including what the show will focus on or when we'd see it. But if you're a fan of The Clone Wars, as I am, this is great news. Filoni came to Lucasfilm a huge Star Wars fan and his love for the series is obvious watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which has delivered some terrific Star Wars stories through the years. It's great to learn he will still be able to play in that world moving forward.

And yeah, I'll say it... It also has me hoping that, if this series takes place after The Clone Wars in the timeline, Filoni could use it to at least touch upon plotlines and characters he established in that series.

Make sure to check out the entire interview with Dave Filoni over at RebelForceRadio.com when it posts on Friday.

"Friday" was yesterday (or today in America), so those with a fast Internet connection may be able to visit the link and listen to the interview now.

[MattG]

That's an interesting development. Wonder what the development timelines and time-to-screen will be.

[Buzz Bumble]

TheForce.net has an item about an animated series called Star Wars: Reclamation set 15 years after Return of the Jedi. Supposedly an ex-LucasFilm (LucasAnimation?) employee gave them copies of an outline for the proposed show ...

Star Wars: Reclamation

• Set 15 Years after Return of the Jedi
• Similar to events of the EU, conflict still exists between the Rebel Alliance, who now control much of the galaxy, and the Imperial Remnant (referred to here as The Union of Imperial Loyalists)
• Both Mon Mothma and Princess Leia are namechecked, as the Supreme Chancellor and her Vice, respectively.
• Two Jedi Knights are mentioned, new characters: Master Evyn Aoka, a Kiffar Jedi who survived the great Jedi Purge, and his Padawan, Sky Bonteri.
• Other characters include Manco, a cyborg Mandalorian, Kala Calrissian, an unknown relation of Lando who appears to be of a Han Solo-esque disposition, President Rath Zel-Quul, the Chiss leader of the Imperial Loyalists, and a mysterious Lightsaber wielding Robin Hood-styled character known only as 'The Shade' whom is said to be Luke Skywalker.
• The series would see both Rebels and Imperials unite against a common foe: an army of black, self-replicating droids that suddenly rise up and attack Coruscant from within its own undercity, specifically Level 1313 (Interestingly, Level 1313 was going to be the setting for the late Lucasart's upcoming Next-Gen video game, before the studio was shuttered by Disney two weeks ago and the project seemingly cancelled).

I haven't visited that link yet, but BleedingCool.com is saying it might be going ahead as a pre-cursor to Episode VII (they also have scans of the pages, which I saved in case lawyers force them to be removed, but I haven't had a chance to read them yet) ...

Star Wars: Reclamation Seems To Offer Our First Real Clues Of What Episode VII Holds
Mickey Mouse's white gloved hand has been caught reaching out and pulling a lot of plugs of late. Amongst the cancelled projects, closures and lay-offs, many of them were Star Wars related.

So we already knew that The Clone Wars was over and that Seth Green's Detours was going on ice, but it seems that some other, previously secret projects may have also come unstuck.

Or maybe not. Maybe these secret projects live on…

An IMDB user posted what appear to be several pages from a TV show's "bible", or perhaps just a pitch document. These give some details on what the show would be about in general, not on a week-to-week basis.

It’s called Star Wars: Reclamation and it seems rather interesting. The show was apparently given the green light in January of this year, but then went on hold after the lay-offs.

There's a chance this could be the in-development new animated project that Disney are working on with Clone Wars vet Dave Filoni, or at least some other going concern, still in the works at the studio. A January green light is promising, right?

And we've been told that Filoni's new show will take place in a hitherto unexplored bit of Star Wars continuity – at least, hitherto unexplored on screen. And so it is with Reclamation, which takes place fifteen years after Return of the Jedi - and presumably fifteen years or so before Episode VII.

Of course, there’s another possibility. This might all be some kind of hoax. We’ll see.

For now, have a look at this little lot. Pay attention to the early promise of:

an all-new story designed to introduce the audience to themes and characters pivotal to Episode VII and beyond.

[MattG]

an all-new story designed to introduce the audience to themes and characters pivotal to Episode VII and beyond.

Cool!

[Buzz Bumble]

Reportedly there's now been a Tweet supposedly from Pablo Hidalgo's wife ...

Kristen Hidalgo:
If you're reading a rumor attributed to an "anon source w/ ties to the company" there's a 99.37% chance it's fake. The .63% is lucky guesses

[MattG]

LOL. Yeah, that should be the general approach to internet rumours