Sketching Star Wars

last updated 8 January 2015

You didn't think the actors playing Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader just showed up on set one day and improvised their climactic battle scene, did you?

Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy (Abrams) shows just how much pre-planning went into the original iconic trilogy. From sketched scenes that never made it into the films, to drawings of what would become the movies' quintessential moments, Lucasfilm offered up its archives for the book, which was released just ahead of this week's Star Wars: Episode VII cast announcements.

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.