Footage From Unreleased ‘Star Wars’ TV Show Surfaces Online
These days, the Star Wars galaxy is more like the Star Wars alternate universes. Every few days, it seems like we get another glimpse of a Star Wars that could have been, or maybe does exist in some other dimension. Weeks after Colin Trevorrow’s original script for Star Wars: Episode IX emerged online — followed shortly by concept art from his vision for the film, which would have been called Duel of the Fates — we’ve got footage from a famously unreleased chapter of Star Wars history.
It was called Star Wars: Underworld, and when it was conceived it was planned as the first-ever live-action Star Wars television series. George Lucas announced the show in 2005, and was personally involved in its development. Supposedly somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 scripts were written for the proposed show, which would have been set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. After years of development, the show was scrapped because it would have been too expensive to make.
This week, several minutes of Underworld test footage made by effects company Stargate Studios popped up on YouTube. (Their other work includes Doctor Who and The Walking Dead.) Although some of this footage has apparently been available online before, it’s the first time most people will be seeing it:
Though clearly not as polished as the Star Wars movies, the footage has an interesting look — sort of Blade Runner meets Star Wars. Although Lucas toyed with Underworld and other TV ideas for years — including animating an entire season of Star Wars: Detours that also never made it to air — he never made his big Star Wars show before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. The first live-action Star Wars show wouldn’t emerge until last fall, when The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+.
Gallery — Every Star Wars Movie Ranked From Worst to Best: