Animated saga will air on Cartoon Network, TNT

The next installment of the "Star Wars" saga will appear both on television and in theaters.

Lucasfilm and Turner Broadcasting announced the pickup of the much-anticipated animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" will debut on Cartoon Network, with rebroadcasts on TNT, in the fall. The TV series will follow a theatrical release for "Clone Wars" on Aug. 15.

"I felt there were a lot more 'Star Wars' stories left to tell," says "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, who's executive producing the animated series. "I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward."

The CG-animated "Clone Wars" will be set in the time between Episodes II and III of the movie franchise and follow Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala in their struggle to keep the galaxy free. Familiar villains such as the scheming Palpatine, Count Dooku and General Grievous will also be featured, as will new characters including Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

Warner Bros. will release the movie version of "The Clone Wars," marking the first time a studio other than 20th Century Fox has released a "Star Wars" title theatrically. The studio, a corporate sibling of Turner Broadcasting, will also handle DVD releases of the movie and series.

The series will be Cartoon Network's second take on the Clone Wars. "Dexter's Laboratory" creator Genndy Tartakovsky oversaw a series of shorts depicting events in the wars from 2003-05, leading up to the release of the final film.

The first in a series of making-of videos for "The Clone Wars" went up on StarWars.com on Tuesday.