In addition to a fourth trilogy of movies being hatched by The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson, Disney has confirmed plans to launch a new live-action Star Wars series in 2019.
The project was one of three major TV shows announced at the company’s earnings call today (via The Wall Street Journal), after it was confirmed that both Monsters Inc. and High School Musical are also headed to the small screen. It’s all part of Disney’s aggressive plan to stake a claim in the streaming market and, essentially, draw power away from Netflix, the undisputed king of digital content. And it seems the Mouse House is bringing its big guns.
Unlike Rebels and the newly-released Forces of Destiny, this all-new Star Wars series is the first sign of a live-action TV show since Disney announced Underworld back in 2005. Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope – Rogue One eat your heart out – the George Lucas-backed show was pitched as a “much darker” and “more character-based” adventure than its cinematic peers. Before it all fell apart, at least.
Further details on this live-action series weren’t disclosed at the time of writing, but according to TWSJ’s Ben Fritz, it’ll launch exclusively on Disney’s streaming service in two years’ time. It’ll seemingly have less content compared to the likes of Netflix, but CEO Bob Iger stressed today that “the price will reflect that,” and subscriptions will be “substantially below” Netflix’s current $10.99 asking price.
This also raises some big questions when it comes to Netflix’s slate of Marvel series (see: The Defenders), though all signs currently point to the Mouse House relocating its street-level heroes onto its own in-house streaming service when it boots online in 2019.
Indeed, the studio is making no bones about its desire to dethrone Netflix, after it formally began talks to acquire Fox’s entertainment divisions and, by effect, licenses to both X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Those negotiations have reportedly been shelved, though…for now.
As for Star Wars, this mystery TV series will likely be with us in 2019, by which time we’ll be staring down the face of J.J. Abrams’ untitled Episode IX.
