We know "Clone Wars" kicks off with the movie/pilot in August, but how's the live-action "Star Wars" television show progressing? George Lucas has spoken with Entertainment Weekly about just that this weekend.

Lucas confirms that he's just starting to work on the scripts for the project as "Clone Wars" has been, and still is, heavily occupying him - "We finished the first year of Clone Wars, [and] we're in the middle of working on the second year. I'm finishing the scripts for the third year. And now I'm working on the scripts for the first year of the live-action show."

Because he's financing it, he has the luxury of running the show how he wants - this includes penning and finishing up the scripts for a whole season worth of shows before they get to filming them. This allows him a lot of forward planning - "I've got it pegged out for 100 episodes, and I know exactly what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it and what the risks are."

Whilst it doesn't focus on any of the characters from the films - "Some of the characters from the features find their way in there, so it's not completely divorced. It's as if we just went down the street and told a different story." Certainly places from the movies will be seen, whilst the Emperor himself is mentioned.

What about an airdate? "The series probably won't go on until around 2010. It'll take this year just to get through all the scripts and then another year to get them all shot." He is committed to at least 100 one-hour episodes - "I'm going to 100 episodes no matter what" - and casting has not yet begun.

Finally he did confirm there'll be some freedom for the directors and actors - "I'm an executive producer now -- I don't do the day-to-day work. I check in once a week, maybe, and it'll be the same thing on the live-action show." Its been reported that the show is currently being shopped around to the networks with either HBO or Showtime currently being the hot favourites.