Lucasfilm has issued a rather important Press Release regarding the future of the STAR WARS franchise on TV, and it contains several key bits of information that are bound to take fans through a rollercoaster of emotions.

First up, let’s get the bad news out of the way… THE CLONE WARS is coming to an end:

“After five highly successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we feel the time has come to wind down the series. While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we’re continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content.”

Now George Lucas did originally commit to 100 episodes, which they’ve long since past, so we can’t really be too annoyed at them for deciding to wrap it up. And bonus points must go to Lucasfilm for keeping the production of the remaining episodes open post Season 5, ensuring we do get an ending. But we don’t like how they refer to these as “bonus content”. Will they premiere online? Likely. Just as long as they finally debut to own on DVD/Blu-ray, we’ll be happy.

And now on to some more encouraging news… Remember that utterly awful animated STAR WARS “comedy” series Lucasfilm commissioned from the makers of ROBOT CHICKEN? (If you’re unfamiliar, you can check out the videos we posted last August, HERE.) Well, it doesn’t look like Disney are too thrilled about STAR WARS: DETOURS either: 

“At Star Wars Celebration VI last year, George Lucas gave fans a glimpse at the animated comedy series Star Wars Detours from Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes. Detours was conceived and produced before we decided to move forward with the new Star Wars trilogy, and in the wake of that decision, Lucasfilm has reconsidered whether launching an animated comedy prior to the launch of Episode VII makes sense. As a result, we’ve decided to postpone the release of Detours until a later date.”

Could this be buried forever, HOLIDAY SPECIAL-style? Fingers crossed!

Lastly, some intriguing news:

“We are exploring a whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming. You can expect more details in the months to come.”

I still believe that the Supermarionation-inspired animation style of THE CLONE WARS was the main thing that prevented it getting the fanbase it truly deserved, and the smart money’s on Disney reckoning the same. Expect their new series, to take on a radically different, more sophisticated, adult friendly style. There’s also a very real possibility that this new show will actually be STAR WARS: UNDERWORLD, re-adapted for animation, it certainly falls in the “untouched” time period mentioned above as it was set post REVENGE, pre-A NEW HOPE. 

Head over to Lucasfilm HERE to check out the Statement in its entirety, plus a video from THE CLONE WARS’ showrunner Dave Filoni and preview of the remaining episodes, sorry, “bonus content” to come.

Share your thoughts on the announcements in the comments below or on Twitter @STARBURST_MAG

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