The Star Wars TV show that would have changed everything
We have all been disappointed countless times by the live-action Star Wars shows, but in fans minds there is that one great Star Wars show that never was.
Prior to selling Star Wars to Disney, George Lucas and his team were working on a live action Star Wars show. The working title was Star Wars Underworld and they were talking about producing around 100 episodes of it. The challenge to bring the show to TV was the proposed budget, so they were actively working to figure out how to bring it down.
When the show was shelved, two seasons worth of episodes had been pre-written by a writers room said to include Terry Cafolla, Chris Chibnall, Louise Fox, Tony McNamara, Fiona Seres, Matthew Graham, Ronald D. Moore, and Stephen Scaia. Ronald D Moore would have been the showrunner.
Test footage was also filmed, which you can watch here:
Underworld will always be the greatest Star Wars show, if only because it was never actually made and can live on as one of those great what-if’s. That said, the scale and ambition of the show is pretty incredible and it’s a shame that it never saw the light of day.
(Even if a lot of the ideas from those scripts have since been reworked into the Disney TV shows).
Here’s an old quote from George Lucas talking about it:
"It sits on the shelf. We have 50 hours. We are trying to figure out a different way of making movies. We are looking for a different technology that we can use, that will make it economically feasible to shoot the show. Right now, it looks like the Star Wars features. But we have to figure out how to make it at about a tenth of the cost of the features, because its television. We are working toward that, and we continue to work towards that. We will get there at some point. It's just a very difficult process. Obviously, when we do figure this problem out, it will dramatically effect features, because feature films are costing between $250 to $350 million. When we figure this out, they will be able to make a feature film for $50 million."
This past week, Star Wars producer Rick McCallum was interviewed on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast where he was asked about Underworld. It has again sparked a lot of fan interest about the show that never was.
"I think we had over sixty scripts, third-draft scripts...again, the most wonderful writers in the world on it. We created exactly the same experience for everybody on the Ranch...it was a phenomenal group of talent. These were dark. These were not...they were sexy, they were violent, they were just absolutely wonderful, wonderful...complicated, challenging...it would have blown up the whole Star Wars universe. And Disney definitely never would have offered to buy it from George. [laughs] It's one of the great disappointments of our lives. But the problem was, each episode was bigger than the films. The lowest I could get it down to, with the technology that existed then, was about $40 million an episode."
McCallum also recounts a meeting he was supposed to have with Chris Albrecht at HBO, but that fell apart because Albrecht was ousted in 2007 after being arrested for assaulting his then-girlfriend in the valet parking area of the MGM Grand. Star Wars The meeting was supposed to take place the following Monday.
McCallum says that the next team had no interest in doing anything expensive, so they never met.
The what-if I’m interested in is not so much about how the show would have looked and felt like (though, it did seem like a cool-sounding project), but rather the industry impact. What would HBO (and even the world of prestige TV) look like today if HBO became the network of Star Wars instead of the network of Game of Thrones?
Everything would have been different.
The value of free. AKA Why I rarely press play on that streaming service.
Yesterday I received a letter from ABW reader Glenn in response to an article I posted yesterday about Tubi possibly upgrading its service in Australia now that it is bringing on board a new commercial sales partner. Glenn wrote:
I have a huge watchlist - but I don't watch it because its free and feel like I have to focus on paid streamers.
Glenn absolutely echoed my own mindset on this and it is, I suspect, one shared by most people reading this newsletter.
One of the absolute best streaming services in Australia is SBS On Demand. It has so much content that I enjoy… and yet… I’m opening that Paramount+ app so much more often and the only reason is because I pay for it.
People like to get their money’s worth. We value a service more if we invest money into it.
News Desk
Paramount+ has renewed the hugely successful Landman for a second season. Read: TV Line
Lizzy Caplan is attached to star in a new Netflix series about “the premier crisis PR fixer in New York, who helps clients navigate the worst days of their lives while trying to maintain her own image as a wife and mother without any crises of her own”. Why is it always about the “premier crisis PR fixer” and not just one of the many people who offer that PR service? Regardless, I know I will be watching. Read: THR
ITV has withdrawn Emmerdale from the BAFTA TV Awards' soap category, writer Martin Fustes admitted to charges of attacking his girlfriend. Read: Radio Times
Why is Friends spin-off Joey not available to stream anywhere? Beats me. But, the Friends YouTube channel just published the first two episodes.
Netflix’s The Perfect Couple will now be an anthology series. Read: THR
Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper will host and produce new Hulu reality show Overboard for Love. And yes, the show will feature sexy singles. Read: THR
Franka Potente, still best remembered for Run Lola Run, is joining the cast of Dark Winds for season 4. Read: Deadline
Seth Green is joining the cast of The Conners for its final season. Read: Deadline
The season 2 trailer for The Last of Us hit a new HBO record with 158 million views. Read: thefutoncritic
Manga series Claymore is set to be adapted, with former Heroes star Masi Oka (remember that guy?) involved in the development. Read: Deadline
Jeff Daniels is joining the season 3 cast of Shrinking, playing the dad of Jason Segal’s character. Read: Variety
Niantic (maker of Pokémon Go) has been bought by Scopely (maker of Monopoly Go) for $3.5B. Read: Polygon
ITV has commissioned Death at the White Hart, a series adaptation of Chris Chibnall's upcoming crime novel (released March 27). Read: Radio Times
The UK’s Channel 5 is rebranding its TV channel and streaming service (My5) as ‘5’. Read: Radio Times
Trailer Park
Poker Face returns May 8 on Peacock for season 2.
Your Friends & Neighbors debuts April 11 on Apple TV+. The show stars Jon Hamm and is from Banshee writer Jonathan Tropper.
After being fired in disgrace, Andrew ‘Coop’ Cooper, a hedge fund manager still grappling with his recent divorce, resorts to stealing from the homes of his neighbors in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village, only to discover that the secrets and affairs hidden behind those wealthy facades might be more dangerous than he ever imagined.
Caught debuts on Netflix March 26.
Reporter Ema Garay gains visibility in digital journalism by catching criminals who tend to evade justice. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Leo Mercer, a social worker who ends up being the main suspect in her investigation of the disappearance of a 16-year-old girl. Based on the Harlan Coben novel.
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory returns for season 3 on Netflix April 3.
Secrets of The Penguins debuts April 20 on Disney+/Hulu. I wonder just what sort of scandalous secrets will be revealed…
Led by Nat Geo Explorer and Emmy and BAFTA Award-Winning Filmmaker Bertie Gregory, the Series Dives Into the Uncharted World of Penguins, Showcasing Their Most Intimate, Courageous and Downright Charming Moments
Devil May Cry debuts April 3 on Netflix.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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