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The live action series will be a prequel to the
2016 movie "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and will star Diego
Luna, Iger said in an earnings call. The series will start
production in 2019.
Iger also said Disney is developing a new series based around
Marvel comic book villain Loki, starring British actor Tom
Hiddleston.
Disney said last year that it plans to launch its own streaming
service in 2019 and would pull its first-run movies from Netflix
to put them on a Disney-branded service.
The as yet unnamed "Rogue One" prequel series will follow the
adventures of Luna's rebel spy character Cassian Andor in what
Disney described as "tales filled with espionage and daring
missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless
Empire." A release date was not announced.
Luna said in a statement that the format would be a chance to
"explore this character more deeply."
"Star Wars" is one of Hollywood's most profitable franchises.
Since 2015, Disney has released two of three planned movies
based around characters originated by director George Lucas in
1977, two standalone films, and has announced a slew of other
spin-off projects.
Thursday's announcement followed Iger's admission in a September
interview that it had been a mistake to release a new movie in
the sci-fi franchise every year, and that fans should expect
"some slowdown" going forward.
The release in May of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," an origin story
about smuggler Han Solo, took in a disappointing $400 million at
the global box office, well below the $2 billion haul for 2015's
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and $1.3 billion for 2017's "Star
Wars: The Last Jedi."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Jill Serjeant; editing by
Cynthia Osterman and Tom Brown)
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