”Star Wars” series planned for TV

The “Star Wars” movie saga is drawing to a close, but George Lucas says the universe he created may continue to expand on television in two new series.

“We’re doing a pilot television series now called ‘Clone Wars,’ ” Lucas told the audience at Celebration III, a huge “Star Wars” convention in Indianapolis over the weekend. “Well, we’re going to take that and turn it into a 3-D animated version full series.”

The animated series will presumably pick up and expand the story of Cartoon Network’s 2-D “Clone Wars” shorts, executive produced by Lucas and directed by “Samurai Jack” creator Genndy Tartakovsky.

The second project, Lucas says, will be a live-action series in the vein of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” which had a one-season run on ABC in the early 1990s. Work on it is expected to begin in about a year.

According to StarWars.com, Lucas says the show would take place in the time between the events of the forthcoming “Episode III” and the first “Star Wars” film, which follows “III” in the story’s chronology.

“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” opens in theaters May 19.