The role that George Lucas has played within Wars franchise has always been quite fascinating, as his legacy has experienced stages of both criticism and acclaim. Lucas was involved in the development of Star Wars projects up until the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company in 2012, at which point he officially retired from filmmaking to begin working on his passion project of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. It has become clear that Lucas had very different plans from Disney regarding the future of Wars universe, and clues about his vision were apparent at Star Wars Celebration VI in 2012, where he unveiled a future slate of projects.
The centerpiece of the convention was Star Wars Detours, an animated comedy series developed by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Star Wars Detours was considered to be“Lost media”that would sit in the archives forever, but this week, we finally have word on when it will be made available for fans to watch. Star Wars Detours was inspired by Green and Senreich's work on the Robot Chicken Star Wars parody specials, which Lucas loved so much that he even appeared as himself in a cameo role.
Although Star Wars Detours completed 39 episodes and had over 62 scripts ready to go, Disney scrapped the show from its schedule ahead of the release of the sequel trilogy, citing concerns about introducing comedic versions of Wars characters before the new films came out. Although updates about the series have been few and far between in the 14 years since Star Wars Detours was first announced, Green recently revealed that the show will screen at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is set to open in September. Star Wars Detours was originally planned during an interesting period for Lucasfilm Animation.
Lucas had shown more interest in animated projects, given that his ambitions to make the live-action Star Wars: Underworld show seemed unlikely. Star Wars: The Clone Wars had been getting increasingly more mature, and plans were made for several more seasons before it was also cancelled by Disney. Lucas has always been willing to poke fun at himself, and has ignored criticisms about adding irreverent humor to Wars universe.
Since Lucas had admired the trilogy of Robot Chicken specials, which added in several cast members from previous Star Wars projects, he felt confident in allowing Green and Senreich to develop an entire series that took a comedic approach to the period in the timeline right before the original trilogy. Seth MacFarlane was also involved as a voice actor, as Lucas had expressed similar enthusiasm about Wars parodies on Family Guy. The major difference between Lucas’ show and the parodies by Robot Chicken and Family Guy was that Star Wars Detours was aimed at a more family-friendly audience; this was befitting of Lucas’ continued insistence that he had made the series with children in mind.
Even though it was satirical, Star Wars Detours assembled a massive cast featuring many Star Wars veterans, including Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks, and Dee Bradley Baker as several different characters; Catherine Taber, who had voiced Padmé Amidala in The Clone Wars, took over the role of Princess Leia. Green was cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and MacFarlane reprised his role as Emperor Palpatine from the beloved Robot Chicken sketch “The Emperor’s Phone Call.” Other cast members included past Green and MacFarlane collaborators like Joel McHale, Andy Richter, Zachary Levi, Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, and even “Weird Al” Yankovic, who provided original songs.
Continued delays in releasing Star Wars Detours began to feel more like an excuse because Disney had more than enough opportunity to debut the series, especially following the launch of the Disney+ streaming service. There was no longer any concern that Star Wars Detours could challenge the reputation of what Wars franchise was because the content was in such abundance; not only had Disney released several comedic and kid-friendly new Star Wars shows, but Disney+ had restored many older programs on its “Vintage Star Wars” tab, which included the ‘80s animated shows, 2003 microseries, and the Ewoks television films. Even though there has been rampant speculation about what Lucas would do if he were still in charge of Lucasfilm, no one seemed interested in the final project that he had actually made.
Star Wars Detours deserves to be released, as the efforts of animators and creatives involved in a show that got Lucas’ blessing deserve to have their work seen, especially since it was clearly made with love. The irony is that any backlash Star Wars Detours might have received at the time of its release for being too childish has likely subsided, given that the franchise's future is looking uncertain in light of recent box office woes. Although Star Wars animation has continued, it faces an issue of conformity in which all the Dave Filoni displays look and feel the same, using a similar style of animation and many of the same characters.
Lucas is unquestionably one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, and his final contribution to Star Wars storytelling is certainly worthy of being watched by a greater audience.