Having aired Lucasfilm’s 2D-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars microseries on Cartoon Network in 2003, Turner Broadcasting has snagged broadcast rights to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a new half-hour CG-animated series from creator George Lucas. The show will debut on Cartoon Network this fall, following a North American theatrical release on Friday, Aug. 15. The show will also air on Turner network TNT. Details regarding international television deals will be announced soon.
Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars will take audiences on new Star Wars adventures featuring such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padm’ Amidala, along with new heroes including Anakin’s padawan learner, Ahsoka. A host of sinister villains, led by Palpatine, Count Dooku and General Grievous, are poised to rule the galaxy and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights.
“I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell,” says Lucas, exec producer of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. ‘I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward.”
‘Nothing like this has ever been produced for television,’ adds Stuart Snyder, president/COO Turner Animation, young adults & kids media. ‘For 30 years, Star Wars has shown that it appeals to a huge breadth of fans. Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network will be appointment television for everyone in the family.’
Lucasfilm Animation, which is based in Marin County, Calif., with a studio in Singapore, has produced more than 30 episodes of Clone Wars. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the first three or four installments as a theatrical movie prior to the television debut. Star Wars fans can now go to www.starwars.com to watch the first in a planned series of web documentaries that chronicle the development of the new show.
