I recently receive the latest issue of the Lucasfilm Magazine (French Star Wars official magazine) and there is an interesting interview with Rick McCallum in it, done by Patrice Girod (French Fan Club president) on 09/27/2007 during Star Wars Reunion 2. It is my understanding that this interview will also be in the Insider #99.

Here are the highlights of the interview, about the live action project:

* George has started working on the series some time ago, mostly on major plot outlines.

* Two young concept artists started working on the project one year ago. They are now 4 and Erik Tiemens (who worked on Episode 2 and 3) is one of them.

* Six writers have been hired (Two British, one Australian and three Americans.) They should have started to work in November but the strike may have changed that. At the time of the interview, the idea was to have the first scripts done at the end of February and the whole first season written in June of 2008.

* Before the strike, the idea was to start shooting at the beginning of 2009 for a season premiere in the fall of 2009. We don't know at this point if this will change because of the strike.

* The dream of George is to have one show the first year, two shows the second year and three shows the third year. The real objective at this point is to do 100 episodes.

* The show will take place between episode III and IV. Some of the themes of the show will revolve around the Empire, its evolution and the relations to this new power in the Galaxy.

* Most of the characters will be new, except for Boba Fett. He will play a pivotal role in the series with other bounty hunters.

* Every episode will have its own original score.

* Interestingly, the illustrations chosen for the interview are concepts from Episode 3: namely the Death Star under construction and the young Han Solo. I don't know if it is any indication for the series or not.

So, very interesting interview to say the least. It's good to know there is a team of concept artists working on the project. It reminds me of the way George started the production of the prequels. I hope to see the first episode in 2009. But if it is 2010 because of the strike, then so it is.