This will take many fans by surprise, but it appears that as a result of Disney taking control of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise, The Clone Wars animated TV series is set to be cancelled. The massively successful and critically acclaimed series is to be wound down after five series. This is being dubbed the "Star Wars TV massacre" by media outlets and the online reaction has prompted the following statement from Lucasfilm;
As we enter into an exciting new era focused on the next Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm has decided to pursue a new direction in animated programming.
However, Lucasfilm is planning on putting new small-screen series animated series into production at a later date, which will explore a whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming." This could really refer to anything at this point. Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni has since released a video about the announcement, which you can view below. This video details the shows history and reveals whats left to come in episodes still to air: http://youtu.be/ujhf5OkRT-g Star Wars Detours, the planned Star Wars comedy spin-off series from Robot Chicken creators Seth Green, Matthew Senreich and Todd Grimes, which was announced last year, has also been canned, or at least pushed back. This too as a result of the same programme shakeup.
Detours was conceived and produced before we decided to move forward with the new Star Wars trilogy, and in the wake of that decision, Lucasfilm has reconsidered whether launching an animated comedy prior to the launch of Episode VII makes sense. As a result, weve decided to postpone the release of Detours until a later date", Lucasfilm said.
These are sad announcements for Star Wars fans. We can only wonder what will become of the live-action crime TV show Star Wars: Underworld or even the video game Star Wars: 1313? Although these announcements only refer to Lucasfilm's animation projects, the question must be asked will this bleed over into other non-film areas? We'll keep an eye out for updates about other upcoming Star Wars projects.