Just when we thought that Disney was hellbent on gutting Star Wars to make itself money, we got a little glimmer of hope yesterday. Lucasfilm and Disney announced that the Lucasfilm Animation division is getting to work on a new series set between Episodes III and IV called Star Wars Rebels.

The series will, obviously, explore the previously largely unexplored two decades between the prequel trilogy and the start of the original trilogy that we all know and love. The story will focus on the Galactic Empire stamping out the last remains of the Republic and the Jedi Knights while the rebellion starts to form.

To run the series, Lucasfilm and Disney have assembled a team of Star Wars and Disney people. Dave Filoni, the supervising director of The Clone Wars, will be an executive producer on the series. Simon Kinberg, who has been signed on as a screenwriter for a future Star Wars film, is the second executive producer. Disney called in one of its big guns with Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman also joining Rebels as an executive producer.

One interesting thing that we’ve been let in on by Filoni is that a bunch of his team from The Clone Wars is coming over which can’t be a bad thing. Also, a lot of the design in the show will be based on Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art for Star Wars. Don’t tell me that doesn’t have your inner geek a little excited.

The series will air on Disney XD which was the assumed destination for the Clone Wars series before it was unceremoniously cancelled. The series will have a one-hour premiere on the Disney Channel before switching to its normal time and channel in Fall 2014. The premiere will be written by Simon Kinberg who has been attached to write a future Star Wars movie.