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Kicking off the highly-anticipated prequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace arrived May 19, 1999. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, StarWars.com presents “Phantom at 25,” a special series of interviews, editorials, and more.

On the day he screen-tested for Jar Jar Binks, Ahmed Best didn’t expect to meet George Lucas. Arriving at Industrial Light & Magic’s (ILM) facility in San Rafael, California, Best was greeted in the main lobby by statues of Han Solo in carbonite and the Energizer Bunny (for which ILM produced commercials). “Everyone knew it was a visual effects house, but I didn’t know how many things were done there,” he tells StarWars.com. “ILM runs that gamut. You can be the Energizer Bunny or Han Solo and everything in between. I was really excited walking through there and

The one-week countdown to the two-episode premiere of The Acolyte has begun and the first official character posters from the series have arrived.

Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) stands ready to defend peace and justice in the galaxy, with his brilliant blue lightsaber ignited. Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) is strong with the Force, green lightsaber drawn, but lowered. And Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) is ready to join the fight. The set also features Mae (Amandla Stenberg), a masked assassin on the hunt for revenge and Jedi Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) caught in the middle of a fierce Wookiee roar.

The hunt is on for the mysterious assassin who has made the Jedi Order her target.

Last night, the stars of The Acolyte gathered for the world premiere of the new Star Wars live-action series, which is launching on Disney+ on June 4 with a two-episode debut.

Kicking off the highly-anticipated prequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace arrived May 19, 1999. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, StarWars.com presents “Phantom at 25,” a special series of interviews, editorials, and more.

Back in 1975, Ben Burtt had been hired as the sound designer for Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), becoming one of the first artists of any discipline to work on George Lucas’ space fantasy. Some two decades later, as Lucas began to lay the groundwork for his new prequel trilogy of Star Wars films, Burtt was recruited once again to join the upstart crew.

“I had been working on some project at the Technical Building at Skywalker Ranch,” Burtt tells StarWars.com, “and I got a call from Jane Bay, George’s executive assistant, and she said, ‘Ben, George

Rydstrom at Skywalker Sound in the early 2000’s, not long after his work on The Phantom Menace.

Kicking off the highly-anticipated prequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace arrived May 19, 1999. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, StarWars.com presents “Phantom at 25,” a special series of interviews, editorials, and more.

By 1999, sound artist Gary Rydstrom had worked at Skywalker Sound for 16 years. He’d won seven Academy Awards for his work on Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1999). He was on the cutting edge of Lucasfilm’s pioneering work in digital sound technology. But he still hadn’t worked on a Star Wars movie.

“I will point out that I worked on Spaceballs [1987], so that kind of counts,” Rydstrom notes with a laugh.

We’ve known The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg is a dedicated Star Wars fan since she first walked out on stage at Star Wars Celebration Europe in full Padmé Amidala cosplay. The actor is also an accomplished musician. She not only dreamed of winning a role in the galaxy far, far away, but hoped to one day record the iconic Star Wars music on her grandfather’s violin.

Today, a new behind-the-scenes featurette takes us inside that recording session at the John Williams Music Building at the former home of MGM Studios. Watch Stenberg’s performance of the solo violin arrangement written by Williams just for Stenberg.

Stenberg arrives as Mae in the two-episode series premiere of Star Wars: The Acolyte streaming June 4 on Disney+.

When Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force arrives this summer, the story that unfolds is about three things: emotional connections, heart-pumping action, and one very worried Wookiee.

„I like to joke that, at heart, Temptation is a bunch of really intense conversations wrapped up in action, banter, and Burryaga being quietly stressed out in the background,” says author Tessa Gratton. “But honestly there are four conversations between Avar and Elzar that make up the emotional spine of the book.”

In the first excerpt from the sequel to The Eye of Darkness, after finally escaping the Nihil Occlusion Zone we find Avar Kriss continuing the fight against the Nihil alongside fellow Jedi Master Elzar Mann. Reunited in private at the Jedi Temple, as they prepare for their next adventure, they

With Star Wars: The Phantom Menace back in theaters to mark its 25th anniversary, we’ve been quoting the prequel film to our friends and singing along — badly — to the Duel of the Fates. Even before its premiere on May 19, 1999, we were mesmerized by the array of new aliens and other characters, including the teaser poster that famously juxtaposes a young and seemingly innocent Anakin Skywalker with the looming shadow of Darth Vader. Where would you fit into the first chapter of the Skywalker saga? Take the official StarWars.com quiz to find out…