This week Star Wars producer Rick McCallum confirmed that the Czech capital of Prague is in the running to host a least a bit of the proposed Star Wars live-action TV series, which has been rotating slowly in a gibbet on the magma slopes of development hell since it was first proposed in April 2005.
What McCallum did confirm about the series, speaking to Czech Position, is, “It takes place between Episodes Three and Four, when Luke Skywalker was growing up as a teenager, but it has nothing to do with Luke.
“Basically, it is like The Godfather; it’s the Empire slowly building up its power base around the galaxy, what happens in Coruscant, which is the major capital, and it’s [about] a group of underground bosses who live there and control drugs, prostitution.”
Prague isn’t Coruscant, we know this because we’ve seen the Republic, and then Imperial, capital up close and personal several times. It’s all angular domes and towers. But what Prague could be is Alderaan – yet to be depicted on screen as anything other than a detonating orb and an establishing shot as the young Leia is whisked away at the end of Episode III. What we know of Alderaan, which if you discount the Expanded Universe is little, is that it has royalty, oceans and mountains, is a cornerstone of the Republic’s democracy and civility.
The Czech Republic has some dramatic landscapes, especially as you head East into Moravia or towards the border with Poland – perfect peaks, rivers and forests for the lush greenery of Alderaan. As for Prague itself, they might be using an epic amount of CGI for the establishing shots of glistening spires, but for interiors, streets and courtyards, it’s hard to think of anywhere more fitting than this fairytale cityscape of palaces and cathedrals.
Maybe it’s all the Game Of Thrones in the air, but it’s not hard to imagine the series split between three or four key locations, with human drama and individual conspiracies feeding into the greater one. If we’re to see the rise of the Empire and the birth of the Rebel Alliance, what better pair of eyes to view them through than that of Alderaan senator Bail Organa?
As one of the founding members of the rebellion the character has loomed large in lore, but not so large in screen, and it feels like an aspect of the canon that screams for development – especially in terms of linking the original series and the prequels.
Perhaps we’ll also be teased with shots of the infant Leia, and references to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
