The First Look at the Life-Size N-1 Starfighter in the Lucas Museum Lobby Is Everything ‘Star Wars’ Fans Dreamed Of
Few institutions arriving on the cultural calendar this year have generated as much anticipation as the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Co-founded by filmmaker George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum is set in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park, with architecture by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects and gardens designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA. The project is the culmination of a journey that began sixteen years ago when Lucas first proposed such a museum, twelve years after he selected Ma Yansong and MAD Architects to design it, and eight years after construction began.
From afar, the building rises like a spaceship, consistent with MAD Architects’ signature sculptural approach, topped with a sweeping green roof. The permanent collection holds more than 40,000 works spanning illustration, comic art, photography, and cinema, spread across thirty-five galleries occupying 100,000 square feet. The range is staggering, encompassing everything from Norman Rockwell paintings to Frank Frazetta comic art to photographs by Gordon Parks, and it signals that this is very much a museum built to outlast any single franchise association.
But let’s be honest. For a significant chunk of the public, the name George Lucas conjures one thing above all else, and the first look at what greets visitors upon entering has set fan communities ablaze. A 33-foot N-1 Starfighter from ‘The Phantom Menace’ will hang in the museum’s south wing, alongside a gallery exploring vehicle design from the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. The sight of that iconic yellow Naboo craft suspended in the gleaming, glass-walled lobby is already one of the most striking museum images of the year.
Beyond the Starfighter, the Lucas Archives will also include Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder from ‘A New Hope,’ a full-scale replica of General Grievous’ Wheel Bike from ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ and speeder bikes from ‘Return of the Jedi,’ in addition to concept art spanning both the original and prequel trilogies. For fans who grew up with these ships and costumes as the mythology of their childhood, a single visit starts to feel like a pilgrimage.
Still, Lucas himself has been characteristically candid about not wanting the ‘Star Wars’ element to overshadow the broader vision. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Lucas said, “It’s one gallery out of 33. And I did it grudgingly. I didn’t want people to come to the museum and say, ‘Where’s the Star Wars?'” That quote has made the rounds, partly because it so perfectly captures Lucas the auteur, someone who built the galaxy that defined modern blockbuster cinema and would still rather talk about Norman Rockwell.
The museum’s opening on September 22 comes after a long and winding road, with the project originally scheduled to open in 2021, then delayed to 2023 and again to 2025, before finally landing on this confirmed date. George Lucas described the institution as “a temple to the people’s art,” built on the belief that illustrated storytelling is a universal language that belongs to everyone. Whether visitors arrive for the Rockwells or the Naboo Starfighter, this is shaping up to be one of the most singular museum experiences Los Angeles has seen in years. Now that the lobby has been revealed in all its chrome-and-yellow glory, are you planning to make the trip to Exposition Park when the doors finally open?
