One of my biggest surprises on television this year was the Star Wars: Clone Wars show on Cartoon Network. The show has a surprising amount of heart and, at times, depth, that was sadly missing from both the prequel trilogy and the four-episode “movie” that was released last year. I find myself looking forward to it each week more than I ever expected that I would. If your only experience with the series was that initial film and you’re even a casual fan of the saga, I urge you to give it another shot.

When heavy promotion was underway back for Revenge of the Sith back in 2005, George Lucas revealed that he was working on two projects for television…the current Clone Wars animated series, and a live action series set during the two decades and change between the two trilogies, which would focus on the burgeoning Rebel Alliance. Obviously, Lucasfilm’s resources have been focused on the Clone Wars project up until now, but word is now starting to trickle out that casting is underway for the live-action project.

Rose Byrne, who Star Wars fans will (probably not) remember for her role in Attack of the Clones (even I had to look up her character, and I’m a walking Star Wars Wiki myself), revealed that several of her friends had been auditioning for the show, though she had no plans to audition herself.

It’s not huge news, but it’s nice to hear that the gears are turning. Lucas plans to shoot a full year of episodes before even beginning to shop around for a network on which to run the show, so we’re still a long way from seeing a finished product. But if the series is put in capable hands like the Clone Wars series (most of Lucas’ best work has been in other people’s capable hands), hopefully we’ll have something good on our hands.