A diehard Star Wars fans guide to the George…
The higher Los Angeles space boasts more museums than any metropolis in the world — over 800, with 100 in LA correct alone — but none of them offer a $210 R2D2 cookie jar, until now.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened last week, including a sprawling $1 billion campus to Exposition Park, already home to USC’s famed Coliseum, BMO Stadium, the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum and the California African American Museum.
After more than a decade in development — including failed potential websites such as Chicago and San Francisco — the museum finally opened to the public last Tuesday.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened its doorways to the public on September 22, 2026. VCG via Getty Images
George Lucas himself and his spouse, Melody Hobson, personally welcomed the first 100 friends through the doorways.
While tickets have been nearly inconceivable to rating during the first few days, I used to be fortunate enough to secure a $25 ticket for Monday morning, and I used to be totally blown away throughout the day.
As a 49-year-old male who has been a Star Wars fan for virtually my total life, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was the whole lot I had hoped it might be — and a lot, a lot more.
The Exterior
All the drone footage you might have seen of this exceptional facility merely doesn’t do it justice. You have to see it in particular person.
Standing inside, I used to be reminded of a line from the movie that fairly actually made this museum attainable: Lucas’ 1977 blockbuster Star Wars, later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
R2 D2 and CP30 are displayed with idea artwork inside the Lucas Museum on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
In one scene, younger Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) method what Luke calls “that small moon” aboard the Millennium Falcon.
“That’s no moon. That’s a space station,” Kenobi replies, which Solo scoffs at, including, “It’s too big to be a space station.”
That small moon was truly the space station identified as the Death Star, and Solo’s line is just as apt for the Death Star as it’s for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
It’s simply the greatest museum I’ve ever visited. I attempted photographing the exterior from the ground with my telephone, but no angle might seize the sheer scale of the place.
The 300,000-square-foot museum, designed by Ma Yansong in a distinctive figure-eight form, sits on a 13-acre web site between Vermont Avenue and Bill Robertson Lane. The campus also options lush gardens dotted with placing bronze sculptures.
The Park and Gardens, designed by Studio-MLA’s Mia Lehrer, reworked what was once a vacant car parking zone into an spectacular public space with an amphitheater, hanging garden and more than 300 new trees.
The 300,000-square-foot museum itself was designed by Ma Yangsong. VCG via Getty Images
This free public space options 10 statues, including two depicting iconic Star Wars heroines: Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Queen Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman).
Mark Newman and Giovanni Nakpil’s Princess Leia Frees Herself from Jabba the Hutt (2025) depicts a highly effective scene from 1982’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, where the gold-bikini clad Leia used her shackled chains against her captor, Jabba the Hutt, choking him to death (spoiler alert…)
Newman’s Padmé Fights Off Nexu (2026) depicts Padmé utilizing a pillar and chain to fend off the vicious creature in the Petranaki Arena in Attack of the Clones.
Near the southern entrance, The Introduction (2025) by Lawrence Noble options another beloved duo: Yoda and Grogu, a.ok.a. Baby Yoda.
All three are beautiful tributes to iconic Star Wars characters and scenes, and like the museum itself, they’re even more spectacular in particular person.
Mark Newman & Giovanni Nakpil’s Princess Leia Frees Herself from Jabba the Hutt (2025). Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
The Star Wars Exhibit
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is just not solely a Star Wars museum, but many of its greatest highlights will be discovered in the cinema exhibit, which options an unimaginable assortment of treasures from the franchise.
The merchandise that struck me most was the full-scale podracer younger Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) used in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Lucas’ first directorial effort since the authentic 1977 Star Wars, the prequel chronicles Anakin’s early life on Tatooine and reveals him as the only human succesful of competing in the harmful podraces ubiquitous throughout the galaxy.
Crafted by Doug Chiang with a scale model of Anakin in the cockpit, the bodily prop was constructed alongside a number of miniature podracers used to create the movie’s digitally rendered race. Seeing the huge vehicle in particular person, surrounded by those tiny fashions, was significantly spectacular.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is just not solely a Star Wars museum, but many highlights of the facility will be discovered in the cinema exhibit. Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
The merchandise that struck me most was younger Anakin Skywalker’s (Jake Lloyd) full-scale podracer from 1999’s The Phantom Menace.
Miniatures of the sand skiff and Jabba’s sail barge from Return of the Jedi
There are also full-scale variations of the airspeeder Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) use to observe down bounty hunter Zam Wesell (Leeanna Walsman) in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, along with Zam’s own airspeeder.
For Gen Xers who grew up on the authentic trilogy, the show that includes the speeder bikes used by Princess Leia and an unnamed Imperial Scout Trooper will definitely maintain a particular place in the coronary heart.
“The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has something for everyone: Star Wars fanatics, traditional art lovers, comic book aficionados and even admirers of bold, boundary-pushing architecture.”
Brian Gallagher
The exhibit also options Luke’s authentic landspeeder from the first movie, General Grievous’ wheel bike from Revenge of the Sith, Darth Maul’s speeder and authentic costumes worn by a big selection of characters, from Luke Skywalker to Darth Maul (Ray Park).
There’s also a treasure trove of idea artwork by Ralph McQuarrie, including early designs for C-3PO and R2-D2.
And at the edge of the exhibit sits a bronze statue of another beloved Lucas creation: Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones.
Luke and Leia on Speeders from Return of the Jedi are displayed inside the Lucas Museum on Monday, September 28, 2026. Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
The exhibit also options Luke’s authentic landspeeder, General Grievous’ wheel bike from Revenge of the Sith, Darth Maul’s speeder and authentic costumes worn by characters ranging from Luke Skywalker to Darth Maul. Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
The ‘real’ artwork
If you have been heading to the Lucas Museum anticipating 300,000 sq. ft of wall-to-wall Star Wars and Indiana Jones reveals, you’ll be fairly upset. But admirers of conventional paintings can be thrilled by the sheer range of its assortment.
Lucas has long been one of the world’s most distinguished collectors of Norman Rockwell’s work, and the museum options a substantial assortment of his work and illustrations.
The Rockwell gallery not only options a quantity of his Saturday Evening Post artwork items, but other pivotal items such as the 1964 portray The Problem We All Live With, depicting Ruby Bridges being escorted to an all-white college in New Orleans.
Lucas is one of the world’s most distinguished collectors of Norman Rockwell paintings, and the museum options a substantial assortment of his work.
One of the most memorable items in the gallery is Rockwell’s 1958 The Runaway, displayed in both its graphite-on-paper research and last oil-on-canvas model.
The portray depicts a Nineteen Fifties soda counter, where a police officer seems to be treating a younger boy to a meal. On the flooring beside him sits the boy’s small bindle, suggesting he has run away from home.
But the work turns into even more placing when seen alongside Richard Williams’ 2014-15 portray The Militarization of the Police Department — Deadly Farce. Williams recreates the same basic setting, but instead reveals a police officer in full riot gear looming over a younger Black boy who recoils from him.
The museum also homes Frida Kahlo’s well-known self-portrait, comedian paintings by Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, John Romita Jr. and Robert Crumb, as effectively as a treasure trove of items from the Lucas Archives.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art contains two theaters that options a prolonged rotation of movies being shown from open to close.
The theaters
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art options two theaters with a rotating lineup of movies screened throughout the day.
The Robert Flaherty Theater screens documentaries, while the Slava Vorkapich Theater options short movies, including the long-awaited public debut of Star Wars Detours, a 2012 animated collection created by George Lucas with Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich.
Although 39 episodes have been produced, the collection was shelved after Disney’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm. In July 2026, Green announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the Lucas Museum would finally screen a choice of the episodes.
When I arrived at 10 a.m., I checked the theater’s movie guide and was stunned to see the second episode of Star Wars Detours listed as the first screening of the day.
I settled in with a sizable crowd and watched the episode, set between the prequel trilogy and the authentic trilogy, offering a comedic glimpse into this franchise in a galaxy far, far-off.
The episode was hilarious, weaving together a number of storylines, including a Gamorrean Guard hoping to turn out to be a bounty hunter to impress a girl, diner proprietor Dex getting a doubtful business proposition from musician-turned-restaurateur Max Rebo, and a glimpse at a bratty younger Princess Leia and her many decoys.
Library and murals wing full with Banksy items
The second building in the museum’s figure-eight design homes a sprawling library and the Murals gallery, which options a number of placing works by Banksy.
The library isn’t a conventional lending library, but guests can browse its cabinets and settle in with a guide at one of the many tables. Its assortment ranges from Star Wars and science fiction to historical past and kids’s books, unfold across a number of ranges with views overlooking the sculpture garden.
Upstairs on the fifth flooring, the murals gallery options monumental works that stretch across total partitions.
Once you’re accomplished in the library you may head upstairs to the fifth flooring to try the Murals exhibit, which options some monumental items that span total partitions.
The wing also options a quantity of works by the enigmatic Banksy in numerous mediums, from work and wall murals to maquettes.
One standout is Don’t Forget Your Scarf, a 2008 stencil on canvas depicting a mom fussing over the scarf of a mohawk-wearing anarchist.
The gallery also contains numbered stencils and a check piece for Mobile Lovers, Banksy’s 2014 road work depicting a couple embracing while secretly checking their telephones behind each other’s backs.
The wing also options a quantity of items from the enigmatic Banksy in a number of different mediums from work to wall murals to maquettes.
One piece – a 2008 stencil on canvas entitled Don’t Forget Your Scarf – that includes a mom fussing over the scarf of a mohawk-adorning anarchist – got here from the assortment of actor Woody Harrelson and his spouse Laura.
Actor Woody Harrelson and his spouse Laura donated the Banksy piece Don’t Forget Your Scarf to the Lucas Museum
The store and its extravagant objects
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art store has the normal museum-shop fare — books, branded pencils and pens, pins and postcards — along with some more extravagant souvenirs.
There’s a small store on the fourth flooring, but the main store is on the first flooring, where one of the centerpieces is a $210 R2D2 cookie jar.
There is a small store on the fourth flooring, but the main store is on the first flooring, which options a centerpiece of some somewhat high-priced objects… including a $210 R2D2 cookie jar. Brian Gallagher for the CA Post
I actually wasn’t anticipating to discover that on the cabinets. According to the museum’s web site, the porcelain jars are hand-painted and characteristic detachable dome tops for storing cookies.
They also had a show of Swarovski crystal collectible figurines that includes a number of Star Wars characters. There have been no costs on show, but the store’s web site lists them for wherever from $350 to $600.
Looking back on my day at The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
It’s phenomenal. Full stop.
While it’s unlucky that we had to wait more than a decade for the museum to finally come to fruition, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has one thing for everybody: Star Wars fanatics, conventional artwork lovers, comedian guide aficionados and even admirers of daring, boundary-pushing structure.
It has rapidly turn out to be a must-see vacation spot in Los Angeles, and I’m glad I had the likelihood to expertise it early.
There have been only a few dozen early birds ready at the doorways with me, but by the time I left at 1:30 p.m., the museum was packed — and that was on a Monday.
At $25, it’s effectively price the price of admission for hours of artwork, tradition and storytelling under one spectacular roof.
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