The supposed live-action Star Wars: Underworld television series has been on the longtime back-burner. Leaving some to wonder if it will ever see the light at all, the project is to detail some of the intergalactic happenings between the fall of Anakin Skywalker at the end of Revenge of the Sith and the rise of imperialism as seen by the beginnings of A New Hope, chronicling the 19 year gap. Now siting technological and financial reasons for postponement, George Lucas, despite his unreliability, did make some big claims:

“It sits on the shelf. We have 50 hours. We are trying to figure out a different way of making movies. We are looking for a different technology that we can use, that will make it economically feasible to shoot the show. Right now, it looks like the Star Wars features. But we have to figure out how to make it at about a tenth of the cost of the features, because its television. We are working toward that, and we continue to work towards that. We will get there at some point. It’s just a very difficult process. Obviously, when we do figure this problem out, it will dramatically effect features, because feature films are costing between $250 to $350 million. When we figure this out, they will be able to make a feature film for $50 million.”

Murmur has circled around predominately all-new characters from Coruscant hives of scum and villainy. Composed of bounty hunters, heavily rumored to involve Boba Fett, it’s to leave the  core roles of the feature films relatively, if not entirely, omitted. There’s a huge sigh of relieve from our already battered and abused childhoods. However, that’s not to say Star Wars royalty hasn’t expressed any interest.

Just today, while at the Orlando Star Wars convention Celebration, Emperor Palpatine himself, Ian McDiarmid, did what he does best. Electrifying fan-speculation, when asked if he’d ever reprise the Sith if the series should come to fruition, he said:

“It would be nice if one day they would be followed up…who knows? Who knows if Palpatine would be in it? It could be like A New Hope. There could be a terrific representative — and by god, Peter Cushing was a terrific actor — doing the emperor’s bidding. If he happened to pop up in the script I would hate if it was to go live and someone else were to be in it.”

Despite what’s to be the relatively unseen mainstays, there is logic behind political figures of esteem or notoriety having largely incorporeal presence but emphasis nonetheless. Think casual references to laws and acts put in order via public speaking cameos. You simply cannot escape media coverage or the civil repercussions of the iron fist leader of the increasingly more and more tyrannical Emperor and his subservient lapdogs. Like real-world politics, follow them or not, it’s inescapably clear that they govern the futures of your environment – for better or (in the case of Palpatine) worse. Fortunately, we’re not in a galaxy far, far away, so we can sit back and enjoy the drama that comes from the increasing corruption of the Star Wars universe. Long story short, make this happen!