What Happened To One Of The Last 'Star Wars' Project George Lucas Ever Worked On?
When George Lucas sold Lucasfilm, and by extension Star Wars, to Disney back in 2012, there was essentially a soft reconfiguration of the IP. Plans were in motion to make a sequel trilogy, which would require the Expanded Universe to be labeled Legends so that the materials beyond the films could essentially restart. The video game side of things saw changes, including the cancellation of Star Wars 1313. The Clone Wars ended up getting cancelled to make way for a more original trilogy-focused animated show called Star Wars Rebels. But there was also another animated project that never saw the light of day (legitimately) post-Disney sale, and that is Star Wars Detours.
For those unfamiliar, Star Wars Detours was to be a 3D-animated Star Wars comedy show set between the prequel and original trilogies, but within its own universe that would have been labeled "D-canon" (short for Detours canon). The character designs were more like caricatures, and it was being made by Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, all while under the supervision of George Lucas. Snippets of the show were shown to the public back in the day, and it was not until last year that one of the episodes leaked, showing bounty hunters 4-LOM and Zuckuss trying to rob Dexter Jetster's diner. (Jar Jar Binks was present as well.) 39 episodes were ready for broadcast, and there were 62 unproduced scripts.
Earlier this year, there were rumors that Detours could make its way onto Disney+ as part of the Star Wars Vintage Collection. However, that did not come to pass, casting doubt that the unreleased episodes would ever make their way onto the streaming service. Recently, Seth Green weighed in on whether there were any current plans to release the series. This is what he had to say:
“The most recent conversations I’ve had with anybody who would be in a position to say [Detours could be released] say that it’s not soon.”
For those who have been curious about Detours or seen the leaked episode and crave more, this is sure to be disappointing news to hear. Green elaborated further.
“Well, there are 39 episodes that were finished for broadcast. But we finished them almost 10 years ago, and so there would have to be a bit of reconfiguring of the existing stuff to make it something that Disney+ would release as a Lucasfilm offering. And the way it’s been explained to me is that there hasn’t been enough interest high enough up to go through what it would take to put it out, and that there isn’t an interest in releasing this content on Disney+ from Lucasfilm.”
While The Clone Wars was eventually revived for Disney+ so that it could get a proper conclusion, it seems that there is not as much interest for Detours from the higher-ups. However, Green does not seem too upset about the possibility that the series may never be officially released.
“I don’t really have an emotional position because I got to spend four straight years making something with George Lucas. And my partner and I, and all of the people that got to work on it—the artists and actors and directors and animators—we all got to make something Star Wars with the guy who created it. And so I know over those four years that he was having fun, and that’s really all I care about. I got a priceless experience with one of my truest heroes, and got to see him laugh and enjoy all of the things that he had created, in a time before he agreed to sell them to somebody else.”
Even though the series never got a proper release, those memories of working with George Lucas will surely be long remembered.
Source(s): Gizmodo