What Will Disney Do With Star Wars TV?
In the wake of Disney’s purchase of LucasFilm and other George Lucas properties, how will the deal affect the existing Star Wars TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the upcoming Star Wars: Detours? Will Disney fully embrace corporate synergy and combine all things Star Wars under their corporate umbrella?
At the moment, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is broadcast on the Cartoon Network, which is a Warner Bros. subsidiary, along with DC Comics. Considering Disney owns Marvel Comics, it seems likely that Star Wars: The Clone Wars might be moved elsewhere after its fifth season, which just started about a month ago. Although there is no telling when season six will start, it will be most likely on a Disney-owned channel such as Disney XD.
The same could be said about the upcoming Star Wars spoof series created by Seth Green and Matt Senreich, Star Wars: Detours. From the trailers that were released during Star Wars Celebration VI, Star Wars: Detours is very kid friendly and completely breaks the conventions of the Star Wars saga. Although the new animated series doesn’t have a network and isn’t slated for release until sometime in 2013, Star Wars: Detours could also easily find a home on Disney XD.
Disney CEO Bob Iger teased the possibility of adding Star Wars programming to Disney XD, where several animated Marvel series have found success. During a conference call yesterday, Iger said, “We intend to do more and create a strong Marvel block. We really like Star Wars‘ potential on TV as well and we think Disney XD will be a strong home for that.”
These animated series could also find a home on other Disney-owned networks, including the Disney Channel, ABC Family, and ABC. Since the Marvel property S.H.I.E.L.D. is getting its own TV series on ABC, it seems very likely that the live-action Star Wars TV series will finally come to fruition. The possibilities are endless for Star Wars TV on various Disney networks. Hell, we could even see a Star Wars Week on ESPN, which is also owned by Disney. “Are You Ready for Some Clone Wars?”
