Are you a fan of Marvel’s “What If…?” series? The one that explores different timelines and ponders what could have happened differently? Courtesy of Star Wars producer Rick McCallum, we’re now getting a much bigger glimpse into a real-life Star Wars “what if.” McCallum recently spoke about Star Wars: Underworld, the long-rumored series that never was. It seems that the series was indeed very real, and much further along than perhaps anyone thought previously.
And oh, how glorious it could have been.
In speaking to the Young Indiana Jones podcast recently, McCallum revealed just how much had gone into Star Wars: Underworld before George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney. They’d completed so much work, in fact, that they estimated a cost of nearly $40 million per episode, with over sixty nearly completed scripts:
“These were dark [scripts]. They were sexy. They were violent. They were absolutely wonderful, complicated, challenging scripts.”
Star Wars Producer Rick McCallum
Star Wars: Underworld – could have, should have, would have
Alas, the series was not to be. Lucas sold the franchise, and incoming Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy took Star Wars in a different direction. The galaxy far, war away would eventually make it to the smaller screen, as we know. However, the stories of Star Wars: Underworld were gone forever. Interestingly, McCallum claims that series “would’ve blown up the whole ‘Star Wars’ universe and Disney would’ve definitely never offered George to buy the franchise.” What if, though?
Lucasfilm has had great success with SW despite some facets of the franchise garnering harsh criticism since the Disney takeover. (The Last Jedi, anyone?) Still, one wonders how Star Wars: Underworld would have fared. For this writer, at least, the galaxy’s darker underbelly is one of the most intriguing and compelling aspects of Star Wars. Perhaps that ‘s why I, and a great many others, are so looking forward to the upcoming second season of Andor. The darkness and grittiness of Rogue One and Andor’s first season are, for many, unquestionably some of the best offerings of the Disney Star Wars era.
Can Andor fill Underworld’s shoes?
Let’s not forget the first time we’re introduced to Cassian Andor in Rogue One. He murders someone in cold blood…. In the name of the rebellion. If Star Wars: Underworld truly was to have bridged the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy, one can only assume that we would have seen so much more of the galaxy’s desperation in perhaps its darkest times.
For now, we can only say “what if?” and hope that Andor Season Two will fill the role of Star Wars: Underworld in the current canon. Perhaps then we won’t have to wonder so much about what might have been.
Source: Variety
