George Lucas directed four of the six Star Wars movies

Fans, however, should not expect Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader or any other established characters to appear.

"It's about minor characters," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's completely different. But it's a good idea, and it's going to be a lot of fun to do."

LucasFilm is also working on an animated TV series, expanded from its earlier Clone Wars shorts.

The half-hour cartoon series takes place between the events depicted in the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith films.

The live-action TV series will take place in the Star Wars universe but will not feature the Skywalker family, as had previously been suggested.

'Little square boxes'

Lucas, who joked the series would analyse "the life of robots", said the US TV networks were "having a hard time" comprehending his vision.

"They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes.' And I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's Star Wars."

The saga began in 1977 with the original Star Wars, which went on to spawn two sequels, three prequels and a number of other projects.