A New Graphic Novel Will Chronicle How ‘Star Wars’ Got Made

For anyone who wants to read about the history of the original Star Wars, a new graphic novel is coming.

That would be Lucas Wars, the newly translated version of a story originally published in 2023 by French journalist Laurent Hopman and illustrator Renaud Roche. The graphic novel tells of George Lucas’ decade-long journey to get the classic sci-fi film made, starting from him surviving a car accident to his journey through film school and clashes with 20th Century Fox. In an email to the Hollywood Reporter, Hopman explained only “the bare minimum of liberties” were taken here, which should appease anyone like him who get annoyed when that happens in biopics.

“Every time a reader asks themselves, ‘Did this really happen?’ the answer is yes,” he continued. “My role was … to decide how to stage [the facts], to bring certain moments into the spotlight more than others, in order to build a gripping story—but without inventing anything, without changing the chronology, without creating conflicts or drama out of thin air.”

Disney’s Star Wars comics have art that keeps the original trilogy characters as close to their live-action versions as possible, for better and worse. If that turns you off, you’ll be pleased to hear Lucas Wars doesn’t have to deal with that, and Lopman highlighted Roche’s talent to “stylize his characters so they’re both highly recognizable and highly expressive.” Roche told THR the most trouble he had when drawing people actually came from the late Carrie Fisher—her hair, makeup, and lighting in reference photos mean her look “changes a lot,” to the point he felt like he was looking at two completely different people.

You can see for yourself in the excerpt above highlighting the casting process and pick up Lucas Wars when its hardcover releases September 16.

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