Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Announces Opening Date | Star Wars Art Update

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles announced on Wednesday that it will finally open its doors on September 22, 2026, after years of false starts and several postponements.

_{A view of the of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter}

The long-in-the-works museum, co-founded by Star Wars director George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, will feature over a 100,000 square feet of museum space, containing 35 galleries housing more than 40,000 works of art.

While the museums major focus isn’t just solely related to Star Wars, it will include dedicated exhibits with costumes, props, posters and concept art from the films. Many of the items in the museum will come directly from George Lucas’ private personal collection, which he has accumulated over the decades.

_{George Lucas and Queen Latifah 
at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con | Photo courtesy of Getty Images}

The exhibits other collections will contain diverse works from historical murals to modern photography, with the goal of connecting people across cultures and eras through visual stories. Displays by artists including Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, N. C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Judy Baca, Frida Kahlo, and Maxfield Parrish; as well as comic art legends such as Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware, and R. Crumb; and photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange will be featured.

“Stories are mythology, and when illustrated, they help humans understand the mysteries of life,” Lucas said in a statement. “The museum was built on the belief that illustrated storytelling is a universal language.”

During a recent hard-hat tour with the Los Angeles Times, Staff Writer Jessica Gelt, specifically for press and special groups, as it is not yet open to the public and is still under construction, we see a building that was closer to completion.

“The library has three levels, two of which feature balconies with curved wooden railings that overlook the room, a lobby area, a bank of three elevators, and a hole in the ceiling of an exhibit hall called an Oculus. The walls are lined with honey-colored wood, and the vast expanse of the museum’s green, 11-acre park — with rolling hills dotted with native plants and newly planted trees.” Gelt said.

_{A view of the interior and exterior of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.. Photos courtesy of The Los Angeles Times}

Star Wars fans visiting the museum will get plenty to love, too, including actual vehicles like the life-sized Naboo Starfighter, General Grievous’ wheel bike from Lucas’ prequel movies, and speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi.

_{Photo courtesy of TFN.net. Naboo Starfighter as seen during the Star Wars: Art of the Starfighter in 2001 and the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination in 2005}

The full-size prop of the N-1 Starfighter was last publicly shown as part of the traveling museum exhibit called Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination. It was displayed at Boston’s Museum of Science in 2005 and remained there for several years before being taken down due to dust accumulation. The 35 foot Naboo Starfighter was used in the making of The Phantom Menace.

_{Photos courtesy of Getty Images}

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM

At the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, Lucas spoke about his massive art and Star Wars related collection, as reported by USA TODAY, and responded with a famous phrase reminiscent of one of his most iconic movie lines. “Indiana Jones, that belongs in a museum.”

“It occurred to me: What am I going to do with it all?” he said. “I’m not going to sell it. I could never do that. It’s not what art is.”

Wednesday’s announcement also came with reveals of works newly announced to be on display in the museum.

_{Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter}

Among the pieces are Frazetta’s cover for A Princess of Mars (1970); Rockwell’s cover for The Saturday Evening Post, “Age of Romance”; an unpublished Potter drawing titled “Mouse with a Spinning Wheel” (1890); “The Duel on the Beach,” a Wyeth illustration for Ladies’ Home Journal (1926); and Ernie Barnes’ “The Critics’ Corner” (2007).

For more information, visit the official site for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

May the Force be with you…