A new animated series set in the Star Wars universe has begun production.
Star Wars Rebels was announced today by Disney and LucasFilm. The series will premiere in 2014 with a one-hour kick-off on DisneyXD.
The series is set between Episodes III and IV in the saga and explores the time the Empire is consolidating its power and the Jedi Knights are dying out. Specifics on the series are being kept under wraps at the moment.
Simon Kinberg will serve as executive producer for the series and pen the first installment. He is joined by Dave Filoni as executive producer, who served as supervising director of the Emmy nominated Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008. Executive producer Greg Weisman brings with him a wealth of animation experience with credits such as Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles.
It’s not a bad idea, I just don’t have any confidence in how it’ll be executed.
My only concern is that Disney XD might leave it with a limited viewing audience. I know we only just got it on our local service about a year ago and it’s a premium channel in the packages that many don’t usually get. At least when Clone Wars was on Cartoon Network, it was much easier to get on Cable/Satellite service. I have faith in Filoni, just not in the Radical Rat(Mickey is way too big to be a Mouse) to get it out to the masses. Maybe they’ll move it over to ABC.