The Star Wars TV Show Is Not So Far, Far Away

With all the fun we’ve had with Clone Wars and homosexual stereotype Hutts, it’s been easy to forget that a live-action Star Wars TV series is also on the way. Lucas has been collecting scripts from god-knows-who, and now, the show is about to actually start casting. From MTV’s Movie Blog:

During the junket for the Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing,” star Rose
Byrne [who played an Amidala decoy]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.

It’s not just my ban on Lucas-bashing, but such is my eternal love for Star Wars that I’m plenty excited about this, no matter what problems may have come before. Frankly, I’ve had enough of the main characters in the movies, especially the Jedi, so seeing other parts of the Star Wars universe is fine by me. I probably wouldn’t mind a Darth Vader cameo now and again, but if this is the price to not have Chewbacca meet Owen and Beru in some super-contrived way, I’m down with it.

Also, is that the most unflattering picture of George Lucas in the world, or the most unflattering picture of anyone ever? Discuss.