Emperor Palpatine Star Just Revealed the Live-Action Prequel TV Series Lucasfilm Cancelled

Over the past few years, Star Wars has thrived far more in the realm of television than it has in film, and it’s unclear when that might change. The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Andor, The Bad Batch, and Skeleton Crew have all been well received, and those are just a few of the shows in Star Wars’ lineup. Recently, the star who brings Emperor Palpatine to life revealed that there was actually another Star Wars TV series in development, though it was ultimately cancelled.

Emperor Palpatine star Ian McDiarmid revealed a cancelled live-action show’s existence during a panel at Spacecon 2026, and the series would have followed Palpatine’s rise and rule (via Popverse). “[George Lucas] was talking about, I think I can tell you now, a television series,” McDiarmid said. “At the time we didn’t think about Star Wars in terms of television series. Very speculative. We had lunch one day, and he said I’ve got this idea, and I hope you might want to be involved. We could sort of follow the Emperor’s progress, like Hilter’s, some of that. There might be an assassination attempt, and of course it wouldn’t succeed. It sounded really exciting. And he also said that maybe you could direct one, and then I fainted. But sadly, that didn’t come to pass.”

The Star Wars Palpatine Series Joins A Long List of Cancelled Projects

At this point, the list of cancelled Star Wars projects or ones that were shut down before they even got underway is substantial, and it continues to grow with every year. One of the most recent examples is The Hunt for Ben Solo project that was created by Steven Soderbergh and Adam Driver. That project was pitched to Lucasfilm, and though they loved it, it was rejected by Disney’s Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, as they couldn’t come around to the idea that Ben Solo was alive.

Going a bit further back, George Lucas had a number of ideas and concepts for films and shows outside of just Palpatine. At one point, he had an idea for a droids-only project that wouldn’t feature any humans, and that was on top of another idea for a project that was based specifically on Wookies.

Outside of Lucas, there was also a Boba Fett solo movie in the works around the time of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and that was going to be directed by Josh Trank. That project was never officially announced, though it was confirmed that Trank departed an unknown Star Wars project around that same time.

Another much-talked-about cancellation was the Star Wars: Underworld TV series, which was in development for quite some time and supposedly featured a more adult and darker edge. Rumors suggest the show would have dealt with the Empire’s spreading power across the galaxy and even a Coruscant drug and prostitution ring (via Den of Geek), and there were also rumors that a Bounty Hunter would be the star of the project. This one never gained momentum after Disney acquired Lucasfilm.

One of the other high-profile cancellations was the video game Star Wars 1313, which was the anticipated underworld-inspired Star Wars game that would feature Boba Fett as the lead character. It was slated to be a mature-rated game and was going to feature fast-paced cover-based combat with a cinematic feel, but when Disney closed down LucasArts, the game was shuttered as well. Those are just a few of the bigger cancellations, and it would seem now we can add another project to the list.

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