One of the great things about being a fan of Star Wars is the incredible amount of behind-the-scenes material we’ve gotten about the series. From books, to magazine articles, to documentaries, to DVD special features, the work that’s gone into creating the Star Wars universe has been well documented. And we might just be getting one of the most exciting behind-the-scenes features yet.
It’s being reported that Lawrence Kasdan is directing a six-episode-long documentary series that is focusing on Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm, and George Lucas specifically. This comes from composer James Newton Howard, who said in an interview with Score: The Podcast:
"My friend Larry Kasdan is directing a six-part documentary on George Lucas and ILM, which is amazing… I’ve scored it, pretty much. It’s in the box."
Lawrence Kasdan is of course no stranger to the Star Wars universe or George Lucas himself. With screenwriting credits that include The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and Solo, Kasdan is actually the second most credited screenwriter in the Star Wars franchise after George Lucas himself.
George Lucas docuseries
Kasdan is no stranger to the director’s chair either, having directed over 10 major Hollywood projects in his career. Though, to date, none of them have been documentaries. Still, Kasdan is someone who would be uniquely suited to tell the story of George Lucas and the revolutionary companies he helped to create.
While there have been documentaries about George Lucas and his work before, It has been a long time since something this big has been announced covering this subject. From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga was released back in 1983, and Empire of Dreams was released back in 2004 and was intended for the first DVD releases of the original trilogy. Because of the time frame, it’s obvious why these documentaries focused primarily on the original trilogy. And while there is certainly more to explore around the creation of those three movies, this new series will hopefully spend some time looking at the work Lucas and ILM did on creating the prequel trilogy as well and pushing the entire medium of film forward while working on that trilogy.
As of right now, there is no known release date for this series or an official way to see it. Currently, its existence hasn’t even been confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm, so we don’t know how much or how little those companies will be involved in the final product. However, Disney has shown that they are clearly very keen on having behind-the-scenes Star Wars content accessible through their streaming service, Disney+. Their behind-the-scenes series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian was an incredibly detailed dive into all of the work that went into the first season of the series, and the special follow-up episodes detailing certain events from season 2 were just as detailed.
It would be easy to see how a six-episode documentary detailing the story of the man and the company that brought Star Wars to life would fit in very nicely with the behind-the-scenes features that have already been released on Disney+