‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ canceled by Cartoon Network; who saw this coming?

Well, it’s probably fair to say that the writing was on the wall when it comes to this one for some time … or at least ever since Disney purchased the “Star Wars” franchise and LucasFilm in a massive coup last year. In a post on the studio’s official site Monday, it was announced that the popular animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wards” would no longer produce new episodes for the Cartoon Network:

“After five highly successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we feel the time has come to wind down the series. While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we’re continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content. In the video below, Supervising Director Dave Filoni offers a peek of what is to come in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

Ultimately, what you can really see this amounting to is a basic conflict of interest. Why in the world would Disney want new programming in the “Star Wars” universe airing on a network that they do not own? Ultimately, we do anticipate seeing some more “Star Wars” series airing in the future, but likely either on ABC, the Disney Channel, or Disney XD so that it makes sense for all of the parties involved.

Ultimately, we’re glad that the “Clone Wars” had a pretty great run, even though we are pretty depressed now at the thought of this show ending largely due to what is basically something far out of the show’s control.

Of course, we are still wondering about when Luke Skywalker will team up with Mickey Mouse now … or at least show up as a character on “Once Upon a Time.” We’re only kidding here … sort of.

Photo: Cartoon Network