Star Wars Live-Action TV Series Casting Underway

We all got burnt with the Star Wars prequels and our faith in Lucas was rent asunder. Indy 4 didn't help matters, but the Clone Wars TV show (both 2D and 3D) has been bringing the Star Wars universe back, as has the recent Force Unleashed video game. One of the main things they have in common is that people other than Lucas have directed them. Now some news on the live action Star Wars show has hit the web via MTV.

A live-action TV series set in the “Star Wars” cosmos has been an elusive, tantalizing prospect for years. News of the potential production first surfaced in 2005 while George Lucas was promoting “Revenge of the Sith.” Work on the “Clones Wars” animated feature film and Cartoon Network series, though, took creative precedence. In late 2007, Lucas revealed that he and his team were about to begin writing scripts for the live-action show. Now MTV News has learned that casting for the series is currently underway.

During the junket for the Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing,” star Rose Byrne let slip that Team Lucas is casting a wide net for actors to join the show. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” she said.

According to Lucas, the show will focus on minor characters from the saga and be set in the time period between “Revenge of the Sith” (Episode III) and the original “Star Wars” (Episode IV). The action will follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the Empire. There will be Stormtroopers, but no Jedi or Darth Vader will appear on screen. As he did with the “Clone Wars” series, Lucas will write and shoot an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel on which to air the series.

Thus, with casting just now moving forward, it looks to be quite some time before fans will be able to catch some live-action “Star Wars” on the small screen.

Bryne couldn’t have been more pleased about her time working with Lucas on 2002’s “Attack of the Clones.” “My experience was wonderful,” she said. “George is a great guy. I was just there for a week, standing behind Natalie [Portman] looking very demure and supportive. 95% of the fan mail I get is from ‘Star Wars’ and I’ve never seen them.”

As much as she enjoyed the “Star Wars” experience, Byrne, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on FX’s “Damages,” will not be auditioning for the live-action series. “I’m on a show,” she said. “I don’t know if I look that good in space.”

What characters would you like to see in the TV show? Who would you cast in it? What planets, aliens and space craft do you want to see and what bits of the Star Wars myth would you like to watch unfold on the small screen?

Artwork by Travis Charest

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