Shortly after the release of George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, the filmmaker planned to bring the franchise to the small screen with the Star Wars: Underworld TV series.
Intended to explore the criminal elements of the Star Wars Galaxy and delve into darker, more gritty aspects of the universe, the idea was for the story to take place between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, bridging the gap between the prequel and original trilogies.
Fans were positively thrilled to hear Star Wars might be coming to television, but the project faced numerous challenges, including high production costs which led to it being put on hold. No episodes were produced, though it's widely believed that as many as 50 scripts were written.
Lucasfilm has since been acquired by Disney and those are buried somewhere deep within the studio's headquarters.
In Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook's book, Doctor Who - The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter (a must-read for any Whovian), Davies - who was in charge of the BBC series between 2005 to 2010 and again from 2023 - revealed he'd been contacted by Lucas about Star Wars: Underworld in 2007.
"The other day (I didn't tell you this), my agent got a call from George Lucas' people," he said in an email to Cook (via SFFGazette.com). "Apparently, Lucas is in London and he wants to meet me about writing for his new Star Wars TV series! But I said no. Well, I can't go to London, I haven't the time, and Lucas didn't exactly beat a path to Cardiff, so he can't be that interested."
"Mind you, they really want a UK writer, apparently. When I find out who it is, I won't be so snooty; I'll just be jealous."
In a later exchange, Davies added, "I do wonder - to be sort of snotty about it, I suppose - whether I'm coarsening myself, when I go back to regular drama, it'll be like starting again from scratch. That's why I turned down the opportunity to meet George Lucas the other day."
"The thought of more years typing 'INT. SPACESHIP' and playing with other people's toys...I mean, no matter how much I love Doctor Who, it's not mine. I didn't create this show. Ah well. Lucas might not have liked me anyway. And I can always tell people that I turned him down."
Lucas wanted top-tier talent for Star Wars: Underworld and clearly felt Russell was a good fit for telling stories in a Galaxy Far, Far Away after his critically acclaimed work on Doctor Who. It was around the time of these emails the writer was preparing to bid farewell to the Time Lord, though, and that fear of forever being tied to sci-fi is what led to him declining Lucas' invitation.
Star Wars: Underworld never got made, anyway, and the first series based on the franchise ended up being The Mandalorian in 2019. Last year, Davies revealed that he'd also turned down a Marvel Studios TV show set in the UK.