Leland Chee: The keeper of the Star Wars Holocron
Meet the keeper of the Lucasfilm Star Wars Holocron, which contains all of the in-universe information within a galaxy far, far away…
In what may be the coolest gig in the galaxy, Lucasfilm’s Leland Chee has the actual job designation of “Manager of the Holocron” for Star Wars content within Lucasfilm. In what Chee calls his “dream job”, he knew his entire life that he wanted to be a Star Wars expert but never would have dreamed of being where he is right now at Lucasfilm.
"Was it realistic for me to think that such a job could really exist? It’s mind-boggling to think of all the myriad little decisions and circumstances that had to transpire for me to get to where I am. I think about jobs I’d gotten in past and, perhaps more importantly, the ones I didn’t get that would have taken me down a different career path. What if George Lucas made the Prequels a decade earlier? What if George never made the Prequels?"
As keeper and protector of the actual Star Wars Holocron at Lucasfilm, Chee’s task is to literally keep track of everything within the Star Wars canon.
In the Star Wars universe, a Holocron is a storage unit that contains a plethora of information on Jedi or Sith history, training, recordings, and even the likeness of its creator within the device.
At Lucasfilm, the Holocron is a massive database which contains all the Star Wars lore, including every character, creature, and planet that has ever been created, with more than 80,000 total entries to date.
More from Dork Side of the Force
- Daniel José Older named a High Republic Adventures character after someone special
- How animation changed Star Wars: Ewoks and Droids
- Kelleran Beq comes to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
- The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal becomes No. 1 on IMDb’s Starmeter for 2023
- Unwrapping the Star Wars LEGO Advent Calendar: Day 7
Chee works closely with Lucasfilm’s Creative Executive Pablo Hidalgo, who is in charge of Star Wars story development, with the duty of keeping everything cohesive and making sure that all the stories of all the characters are totally in-sync.
The Force brought the two together, with Chee’s original role within Lucasfilm for the licensing department and Hidalgo as a part of marketing and online content. Now this dynamic duo leads the charge with all of the storyline content for Star Wars.
Reminiscing, Chee once said that “it would be fantastic if we had input on what production was doing” and now he does more so than anyone within the Star Wars story group.
Lucasfilm's Leland Chee, our very own "Keeper of the Holocron," shares his experience as one of the world's top experts on the galaxy far, far away….
Posted by Lucasfilm on Wednesday, August 16, 2017
"“My job is to know more about Star Wars than pretty much anyone else. There’s no such thing as a typical day for the keeper of the holocron. I could be at one point reading scripts for a film. Or I can be reading a manuscript for one of our novels. Or I might be cast to try out the newest VR experience. Each day is great!"
There is even a licensed action figure by Lucasfilm of a Jedi named Selig Kenjenn, with Chee’s likeness, which was inspired by artwork done of him in a piece by Wired.
The Holocron keeper is also active on Twitter, where he interacts with fans on a large assortment of questions from a galaxy far, far away.
Next: 50 Most Memorable Moments from Star Wars: The Clone Wars
How cool is it to have instant access to Lucasfilm big wigs such as Chee and Hidalgo, who are both so open and active with Star Wars fans? What a time to be alive and especially to be a Star Wars fan.