When Walt Disney Studios purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, ‘Star Wars’ fans saw a number of projects in development fall to the wayside. For instance, the animated comedy series ‘Star Wars Detours’ from the creators of ‘Robot Chicken’ was shelved due to Disney’s new direction for the franchise. But when people think about these leftovers from George Lucas’ regime, there are two other projects that usually come to mind immediately: a television show and a video game.
‘Star Wars: Underworld’ was a live-action TV show that Lucas himself was developing. Announced back at Star Wars Celebration III in 2005, the show was meant to be set on Coruscant during the time period between ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘A New Hope’. Reportedly there were around 100 episodes of the 1940s noir-esque series already written and ready to go out of the 400 that the creator had envisioned, but a number of factors held it up.
‘Star Wars 1313’ was an M-rated video game from LucasArts that was originally announced at E3 2012. Players would take control of an unidentified bounty hunter and infiltrate an underground city of Couruscant known as Level 1313 using combat skills and various weaponry as opposed to the force powers utilized in many ‘Star Wars’ games before it. The rumor going around was that this game depicted the early days of Boba Fett, but the released concept art and available information did not confirm this.
Both of these projects were definitely high anticipated when they were announced, but since the Disney acquisition, fans believed them to be lost. Although, a recent interview with Kathleen Kennedy seems to indicate otherwise. While speaking to /Film about ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, the Lucasfilm President revealed that those particular properties have not been forgotten about:
“No. No, interestingly enough, thats’ an area we’ve spent a lot of time, reading through the material that he developed is something we very much would like to explore. And there was 1313 the game… Our attitude is, we don’t want to throw any of that stuff away. It’s gold. And it’s something we’re spending a lot of time looking at, pouring through, discussing, and we may very well develop those things further. We definitely want to.”
Considering what Disney and Lucasfilm have in the pipeline currently for ‘Star Wars’, elements of both ‘Underworld’ and ‘1313’ could pop up in a number of places. There has been talk of a ‘Star Wars’ show on Netflix and since the series was being developed as a premium cable sort of story, ‘Star Wars: Underworld’ could definitely find a home on the popular streaming service just as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s darker corners did. Also, before Josh Trank dropped out, there was talk of a Star Wars Anthology film starring Boba Fett. Either one of these tales could be incorporated into the landscape of that movie. The game could live on in literary form as it has already been mentioned in the novels ‘Dark Disciple’ and ‘Aftermath’. A place described as “Coruscant’s most infamous underworld level, a dungeon so deep that the world above has forgotten about it” could also make an interesting setting for any of Marvel’s ‘Star Wars’ comics. The possibilities are endless at this point, but the important thing to take away from this is that the studios have not forgotten about these hot properties.
How would you like to see ‘Star Wars: Underworld’ and ‘Star Wars 1313’ live on? Would you rather see them presented as they were originally intended? Do you see Lucasfilm and the Star Wars Story Group restructuring these ideas for future movies, TV shows, books, or even the main saga itself? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.
