Although Lucasfilm has continued to release many new Star Wars shows and specials on Disney+, there are a few rare pieces of older Star Wars content that have yet to be added to the streaming service. While Disney+ recently added a “Vintage” section to the Star Wars tab that included Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series, the Ewoks and Droids cartoon shows, the original television movies Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and the animated segment of the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special, one major Star Wars series has remained completely within the archives. Despite having 39 episodes completed, the comedic animated series Star Wars Detours has never officially aired in any official capacities.
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At Star Wars Celebration VI in 2012, George Lucas unveiled the first look at Detours, a sketch comedy show created by Robot Chicken showrunners Seth Green and Matthew Senerich. The pair had previously formed a close connection with Lucasfilm after their work on several Star Wars specials of Robot Chicken. The series was set between the original and prequel trilogies, and featured an incredible voice cast that included Dee Bradley Baker, Billy Dee Williams, Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale, Zachary Levi, and Weird Al Yankovic. However, Green has admitted that Disney+ has no interest in releasing Detours anytime soon. It’s a shame that the hard work of this creative team has yet to be seen in its entirety, and Star Wars fans deserve the chance to see it.

Disney+ Has a Variety of Star Wars Content

Disney+

Based on Green’s comments regarding the release of Detours, it appears that Disney was initially reluctant to release a completely comedic installment in the franchise during the promotional lead up to The Force Awakens. This made sense, as Disney most likely did not want younger audiences’ perceptions of the saga to be based upon a parody. However, this was at a time when Disney+ did not yet exist; in the years that passed, there have been many comical projects released to the service including several LEGO Star Wars specials and series. Similar to Detours, these projects poke fun at recurring elements of the franchise and feature humorous references to the most famous scenes and characters.

Related: Here’s Every Star Wars TV Series, Ranked

There are now so many Star Wars shows on Disney+ that even the most obsessed fans may have some difficulty catching up with them all. Disney has shown that they are willing to embrace a “warts and all attitude” to older content, as The Holiday Special, the cartoon Ewoks and Droids shows, and the Ewok television movies obviously do not meet the same high quality standards of Disney+ originals like The Mandalorian and Tales of the Jedi. There’s also room to draw in audiences of all ages; Andor might lean more towards adult viewers, while shows like Resistance and Forces of Destiny are geared towards children. There’s certainly room for a show like Detours to exist.

It Shows Respect to the Animators

Warner Bros. 

It’s simply disrespectful to creators of a project if something that they worked hard to create isn’t released in any format. Recently, Warner Brothers and HBO Max were criticized for refusing to release their completed films Batgirl and Scoob! Halloween Haunt due to concerns about branding. Perhaps these movies wouldn’t appeal to fans, and the same might be said of Detours; however, they still required hard work from the animators, writers, cast, and behind-the-scenes crew who were working under the perception that their show would be seen by an audience. It’s more frustrating since Detours was in development prior to the purchase of Lucasfilm by Walt Disney Studios in November 2012. The cast and crew would have had no idea that they would need to format their show in a way that would appeal to different owners.

Lucasfilm also has a preexisting relationship with many of the people involved in bringing Detours to life. Green and Senreich have shown that they are true buffs of the franchise with their Robot Chicken Star Wars specials, and they even got George Lucas to voice himself for one sketch. Actors like Williams and Daniels have played their characters for over four decades, and Ahmed Best was recently embraced by the Star Wars fan community following his mental health struggles in the wake of the backlash that Jar Jar Binks received. Unlike other Star Wars parodies such as the Family Guy specials, Detours was under production at Lucasfilm Animation and received the creative input of Lucas himself. Since Lucas is the creator of the saga and has since stepped away from being involved in any new projects, it would be worth seeing what his final contributions were.

Related: Why Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken Continues to Be Successful

It’s a Refreshing Take on the Saga

Lucasfilm Animation

The Star Wars saga is at risk of not being inviting to new fans. While The Mandalorian was initially conceived as a standalone project that even non-fans could enjoy, it is now tied in directly to several other ongoing storylines. Viewers who hadn’t caught up with The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Book of Boba Fett may now be confused about the direction of the story. However, a comedic take on the franchise might interest viewers who aren’t as interested in learning about extensive backstories. Additionally, hardcore fans that may feel “burned out” by the overabundance of content might enjoy watching a Star Wars show that doesn’t require them to take it too seriously.

Detours also looked like it would offer more than a few fun Easter Eggs for long time fans. By parodying Darth Vader’s relationship with Emperor Palpatine, acknowledging the backlash against Jar Jar Binks, and exploring Obi-Wan Kenobi’s goofier force powers, Detours planned to look at the way that Star Wars has progressed over the years. While humor is consistent within a majority of Star Wars projects, having a purely comical series would be something new, as even the LEGO specials are adventure narratives intended to engage children. There’s room for all types of Star Wars stories, and Detours looked like it could have been a promising new venture into the saga.