Rick McCallum, the production genius behind the Star Wars prequels, the Young Indiana Jones television series, the Star Wars Special Editions, and many other projects, is not to be missed at Celebration Europe. McCallum is always a favorite with fans for his quick wit and personal approach.

Panel recap: Warwick Davis hosted an hour-long conversation and Q&A with Rick McCallum, who opened by praising Celebration Europe and explaining that he had missed Celebration IV while meeting potential writers for the planned live-action Star Wars television series. McCallum discussed his early career at Elstree Studios, meeting George Lucas, and the origins of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, including Lucas’s interest in bringing feature-film production values and digital effects to television.

McCallum also spoke about the future of Star Wars on television, saying that the live-action series was being developed as a darker, character-based project written for adults, while The Clone Wars animated series was already well underway. The discussion returned to the prequels with a clip from the Mustafar duel in Revenge of the Sith, after which McCallum described Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor’s training with Nick Gillard and the use of Mount Etna eruption footage for the duel’s background plates. In the Q&A, McCallum addressed possible future films, the Indiana Jones DVD releases, Star Wars in 3D, high-definition releases, deleted scenes, fan films, and confirmed that the live-action series was planned to shoot in Sydney, Australia.