Suvudu Universe

Some interesting speculation was put out at the end of the latest episode of Rebel Force Radio, where hosts Jason and Jimmy discussed an email they received from a fan attending Rhode Island Comic Con where Billy Dee Williams had a panel hosted by his manager on November 2nd.

Towards the end of the panel Billy Dee is asked about his role on of Leroy Jethro Moore on NCIS and if there was any plans for him to return to the show. Following this Billy Dee’s manager then asks the audience if they have seen the show and then also asks the audience if they had seen Billy Dee on Modern Family.  Billy Dee then says, ” I am about to go off and do something with Netflix.” His manager interjects, “Oh right, the pilot.” Billy Dee continues, “Next week on Monday…Tuesday” His manager then asks, “What is the name of it?” To which Billy Dee replies somewhat unsure, “Uh.” Until his manager once again interjects and says “Rebels.” At this point Billy Dee continues saying, “Uh, Rebels but I can’t talk about it.” His manager continues, “your not allowed to talk about it.” Billy Dee continues, “I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it.” His manager then says, “Whoops.” A member of the audience then asks, “Is it Star Wars Rebels?” To this Billy Dee’s manager quickly responds, “No!” and moves on to the next question.

The best version of the panel audio I have found was from the website Anime Herald:

If you go to the 40 minute mark of the audio you can catch the full exchange.

What do I think this means?

I don’t think Billy Dee was talking about Star Wars Rebels. At the same time it doesn’t sound like he is talking about any project currently announced by Netflix.

The current slate of Netflix original programming is as follows:

Lilyhammer Season 2: Series Comedy-drama December 13, 2013
Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team): Series Animation December 2013
House of Cards Season 2: Series Political drama February 2014
The Killing {Season 4 only}: Series Crime drama TBA
Hemlock Grove Season 2: Series Horror/thriller 2014
Marco Polo: Series Drama 2014
Narcos: Series Drama 2014
Orange Is The New Black Season 2: Series Comedy-drama Spring 2014
Sense8: Series Sci-fi-drama Late 2014
“Untitled Psychological Thriller”: Series Psychological Thriller TBA
Daredevil Series Superhero 2015
Jessica Jones Series Superhero TBA
Luke Cage Series Superhero TBA
Iron Fist Series Superhero TBA
The Defenders Mini-Series Superhero TBA

One other note is that we know Rebels as of New York Comic Con still was very early in the animation process. This is a show that has a development cycle that is much shorter than The Clone Wars, so I would be relatively surprised if any dialogue for the show has already been recorded.

It also wouldn’t make sense for Billy Dee to be discussing Rebels in the context of working on a “pilot,” given that Disney is committed to and launching the show with a series commitment and without going through the pilot process.

Now this doesn’t mean that Billy Dee may not appear on Star Wars Rebels at some point, but I don’t think he is currently recording any dialogue for the show.

Jason at MakingStarWars.net has more discussion of this rumor and speculation.

SOURCES: Anime Herald, Rebel Force Radio, MakingStarWars.net