Multiple sources have confirmed to Tomorrow’s Entertainment that George Lucas is coming to Los Angeles next week to meet with writers for his long - gestating live - action Star Wars series.. According to one source familiar with the project, Lucas’ plan is to recruit several freelancers - aka ” writers of real significance ” - to spend a week at the Skywalker Ranch in November to come up with story ideas for the series.. The source also said that Lucas has indicated a desire to hire writers from other countries.. The scribes would then disperse and write the 13 episodes that would be produced and financed by Lucas..

The filmmaker is set to meet with freelance writers in Los Angeles next week.. So get out your old typewriter and start bashing keys fans..

The producer, based in San Francisco, reportedly began hiring Hollywood writers for the project as early as February last year, originally intending to produce as many as 26 episodes..

However he is now said to be keen to work with writers from countries outside of the US.. Hmm, maybe I am in with a chance..

Details of the actual series remain under wraps, but Tomorrow’s Entertainment can tell you it would fill in the gap in the storyline between the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope..

Lucas is taking somewhat of a chance on both the animated and live - action series considering he doesn’t have a deal in place with any network yet.. He’s already indicated that the animated series ( Which has completed roughly 40 episodes so far, and is set between Episodes II and III ) is PG - 13, and as such it would need to air on a network later at night.. As far as the live - action show goes, I imagine it will also be PG - 13; here’s what Lucas had to say about it recently..

” The live - action series is not the movie.. It’s the Star Wars universe, but it’s characters from the saga who were previously minor, and it follows their stories.. It’s set between Star Wars Episodes III and IV, when the Empire has taken over..”

The series is set during the 19 - year timespan between the founding of the Empire and Darth Vader’s rise to power to the events of A New Hope, referred to as “ the dark times ” by Obi - Wan Kenobi in the latter film.. It is during this period that the last of the Jedi will be hunted down, the newly - formed Galactic Empire will rise to power throughout the galaxy, and the first Death Star will be constructed..
Nevertheless, most of the stories will be told from the perspective of minor characters from the Star Wars galaxy.. Lucas has described it as “ one show that will split into four shows, focusing on different characters..” Boba Fett may play a significant supporting role in the series, with Daniel Logan reprising his role from Episode II: Attack of the Clones.. According to Lucas, several of the major characters from the films may have small appearances as well..

During the events of the series, the Rebel Alliance will gradually form into a full resistance against the Empire.. The Alliance will ultimately win its first major battle against the Empire, referenced in the opening crawl in A New Hope..

On the style of the series, McCallum has stated..

“It is going to be much darker, much grittier, and it’s much more character based.”

Lucas has described the series as..

” Bare - bones and action - heavy, it will be for more mature audiences like TV shows Battlestar Galactica and Firefly..”

Lucas explained that if this series ( Along with the planned 3D CGI Clone Wars series) is successful, more television series may follow.. He explained that he has considered setting the time frames of these possible shows during time periods far away from his films.. When asked by a fan at his AFI lifetime achievement ceremony if this may include the Knights of the Old Republic / Sith Wars era, Lucas explained that is always a possibility, and that he may be interested in taking the franchise to those story areas one day..

Tomorrow’s Entertainment just heard back from Lucas today and this is what he had to say..

TE: Thank you for taking time to answer a few questions for us.. Is what we are hearing about Star Wars live - action series for TV true?
Lucas: No problem.. Yeah, I’m working on that as we speak.. We’re about to start writing it in about a month from now, so you and all other fans start penciling your scripts for it now..

TE: And where will that live in the Star Wars continuum relative to Clone Wars and relative to the films?
Lucas: Well, Clone Wars has got all the characters in it - Yoda and Anakin and Obi Wan and the Emperor and all that - so it’s basically the movie.. The live - action series is not the movie.. It’s the Star Wars universe, but it’s characters from the saga who were previously minor, and it follows their stories.. It’s set between Episodes III and IV, when the Empire has taken over.. It’s like Episode IV in that the Emperor and Darth Vader are heard about - people talk about them - but you never see them because it doesn’t take place where they actually are.. There are storm troopers and all that, but there are no Jedis.. It’s different, but I think it’s very exciting because I get to explore a part of that universe that I haven’t been able to explore.. Once you have a saga, it’s got a lot of requirements because it’s about a particular thing - in this case, Darth Vader - and so it’s his story from the time he’s 10 to the time he died.. You really can’t go off that track because that’s the story.. Whereas now, I can make a left turn on 10th Street and go down there and see what’s going on..

TE: And how are you going to produce this one? Are you going to film a certain number? Are you going to have a deal with a network before you go ahead with filming?
Lucas: No, we’ll do it just the same way that we’re doing the animated series, which is we usually write a whole year first, and then we’ll start shooting, and then we’ll shoot the whole year and then once we’ve got something to show, we’ll see where we can put it.. We’re going to do a hundred of them, too.. It should be easier to place than the animated one because it’s live - action..

TE: So you’ll film before you get a commitment? Or how will that work?
Lucas: Well, we’re doing these before we get a commitment, so we’re just doing them on the faith that we’re going to sell them.. I mean, we’re doing them ourselves, so we can finance them, we don’t need to have a commitment of any kind.. We’re simply going to sell them..

TE: Will you be looking for a network like an HBO to say, “We’ll take all hundred”?
Lucas: Yeah, but they probably won’t do that.. [ Laughs ] Somebody might, but usually what they’ll do is they’ll take 13 or 26 and then see what happens and they’ll take the next group.. If that group doesn’t work, then we’ll move to another place.. Lucasfilm is basically acting as the production company..

TE: George, thank you for your time and patience.. It was a pleasure..
Lucas: Sure!

The Star Wars empire has generated well over $3 billion dollars since 1977, when the first Star Wars film came to the big screen..

No word yet on whether Harrison Ford, who seems to be making a habit of returning to his old roles, will play Han Solo..

The Star Wars live - action TV series is currently set to debut in 2009..