WonderCon: Star Wars - The Clone Wars

The director of fan relations of LucasFilm made a surprise appearance during the Warner Bros panel at WonderCon to present some footage from the upcoming Star Wars computer animated movie and television series. The Clone Wars will premiere on movie theater screens worldwide on August 15th, before continuing as a half hour computer animated series on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall. The movie/series will bridge the gap between Episodes 2 and 3. Featuring a mix of familiar characters (Anakin, Obi-wan... etc) and new characters.

The short clip they premiered featured interview footage intercut with footage from the finished series. It was explained that the show will explore who is Anakin Skywalker, who was he, what was he like, and his brother-ship with Obi-wan. A new female character is also introduced named Osoka (sp?), who is learning what it's like to be a Jedi, and serves as a touchstone for the audience. The series will also feature a lot of clones (hey, it is the Clone Wars after all), and it is explained that a few of the Clone troopers have been made identifiable with their own individual personalities. I know some stills and footage have already been shown online, but the new stuff shown during the clip is very impressive. I can imagine the production costs for this half hour series will be through the roof.

I'm sure we'll find out more during the LucasFilm panel later in the day.