Producer Simon Kinberg attends the World Premiere Of “Cinderella” on Sunday, March 1, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)

Simon Kinberg has been talking about the growing possibilities of shared universes. One of the busiest people in Hollywood, Kinberg’s work takes in Rebels and the Fox-produced Marvel movies and TV shows. As a result, he’s at the bleeding edge of shared universe storytelling and the excellent interview, conducted by Moviefone, sees him talk in depth about his work. The whole piece is great but this particular quote is what’s getting people excited:

“… it’s trying to balance the two different things, like the original cast from the first season with ‘Clone Wars,’ with characters from the original movies, and maybe even feeding into future movies.”

Rebels has pioneered this approach, folding in characters from Clone Wars with huge success. It’s something we’re starting to see bleed through into the Star Wars movies too, with Forest Whitaker’s character in Rogue One another surprising, and welcome, returning Clone Wars player. What Kinberg seems to be saying is that this is just the start. Furthermore, that the traffic is going to go in both directions with the Star Wars universe.

The idea of seeing someone introduced in a movie and then their origin being explored in one of the shows is fascinating and the potential for crossover storytelling here really is massive. What’s especially interesting is how much this seems to be a response to what Marvel aren’t doing. The days of ‘#itsallconnected’ are a couple of seasons of Agents of SHIELD behind us and Marvel’s TV and movie streams are barely acknowledging each other these days. Something cast members seem increasingly unhappy about.

In contrast, the Star Wars universe seems to be marching in step and it’s really paying off. Do read the whole interview too, as Kinberg discusses Legion (Which he says very much is in X-continuity despite earlier reports), Deadpool and what that movie’s success means for the future of the X-movies.