Oh My! A New Star Wars Animated Series Is Set To Debut Next Year

Wait, does this mean Star Wars: The Clone Wars won’t be returning? NOOOOOOOO! 

Production has already started on Star Wars Rebels, the next generation of the Star Wars animated universe. According to The Hollywood Reporter it will start with a one-hour special in fall 2014 on Disney Channel and then continue as a full series on Disney XD.

“Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes) serves as executive producer and will write the premiere episode. Dave Filoni, who was supervising director on Star Wars: The Clone Wars (which ran from 2008-13 on Cartoon Network), and Greg Weisman (The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice) will also executive produce. Casting will be announced at a later date,” writes THR.

Some good talent involved, and I’m certainly glad to see Filoni’s name there, but does this series have anything to do with Clone Wars or will it be an entirely different story?

Star Wars Rebels takes place between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which spans about two decades. The animated series is set “in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape.” (Lucasfilm delayed animated effort Star Wars Detours from Seth Green, which would have taken place between Episode III and Episode IV.)

So…I guess the answer is maybe? They’ll be focusing on a previously untouched era when it comes to Star Wars films and TV but it’s certainly possible we’ll revisit characters developed in Clone Wars. We may not know details for a while but if you’re attending Star Wars Celebration Europe you’ll be the first to see footage.

Listen to Filoni geek-out a bit about his new series in this video.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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