With Disney's purchase of the franchise, many of us were left wondering what this meant for the show's future. Considering the program's success on Cartoon Network, it was fair to assume the animated adventure would simply move to Disney XD, but it looks like the show will instead become one with the force.
Lucasfilm made the announcement today, but it's not all bad news for fans. Supervising Director Dave Filoni says, "The best is yet to come" and showed a new clip which revealed the beginning of Order 66. While a new season for The Clone Wars on XD doesn't seem likely, it's entirely possible these additionally tales could be clumped into an animated film.
Additionally, it sounds like there's a new show in the works... one that dives into "a time period previously untouched." The announcement also says the debut of Star Wars: Detours (Seth Green, Todd Grimes, Matthew Senreich) will be delayed.
Here's the full message:
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. We are exploring a whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming. You can expect more details in the months to come.
As part of this shift, we have also made some key decisions affecting Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Detours.
After five highly successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we feel the time has come to wind down the series. While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we're continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content. In the video below, Supervising Director Dave Filoni offers a peek of what is to come in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
At Star Wars Celebration VI last year, George Lucas gave fans a glimpse at the animated comedy series Star Wars Detours from Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes. 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, we've decided to postpone the release of Detours until a later date.
We are incredibly proud of the teams at Lucasfilm Animation for creating some of the most amazing animation ever produced for TV. Keep checking StarWars.com for new developments on these and future projects.
This show has certainly left us with a lot of questions (what does this mean for Darth Maul?!), but at least it went out on a fantastic note. You'll be missed, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Source: Starwars.com