George Lucas Says Opening His Long-Awaited Museum “Almost Broke My Will” After a Nearly Two-Decade Journey

George Lucas has spent decades building worlds that feel larger than life, but even the man who reshaped modern cinema with ‘Star Wars’ admits some projects test him in ways nothing else does. His latest endeavor, a passion project nearly two decades in the making, has proven to be one of the toughest challenges of his career.

That project is the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a sprawling institution dedicated to the art of visual storytelling that Lucas has been developing alongside his wife, Mellody Hobson, for 17 years. The museum has weathered site changes, extended construction timelines, and years of anticipation from fans eager to see the filmmaker’s long-teased vision finally take shape.

That anticipation reached a new milestone this week, as Lucas offered reporters a first glimpse inside the museum ahead of its official public opening. Reflecting on just how difficult the journey had been, Lucas didn’t hold back about the toll the project took on him personally.

Speaking about the effort behind bringing the museum to life, Lucas admitted the process pushed him further than he expected. “I’m used to doing the impossible. Part of the problem is I’m a contrarian. I’m fascinated by doing things that people say can’t be done. This one almost broke my will,” Lucas said, according to Variety.

That kind of candor is notable coming from a filmmaker known for pursuing ambitious, unconventional ideas throughout his career, from independent filmmaking to building an entire franchise from scratch. Lucas also touched on why narrative art specifically became the focus of the museum, explaining that he felt strongly about honoring illustrators who bring myths and stories to life through their work, since those illustrations make the stories feel real even when they aren’t.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art sits in Exposition Park, and construction on the massive project began back in 2018. The five-story, 300,000-square-foot museum is set to officially open to the public on September 22, offering visitors more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space spread across more than 30 individual galleries.

True to Lucas’s cinematic roots, the museum includes a gallery packed with life-sized props from the ‘Star Wars’ films, featuring familiar faces like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Darth Vader. But the collection extends well beyond a galaxy far, far away, featuring an extensive collection of Norman Rockwell paintings alongside works from Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Maxfield Parrish, and Frank Frazetta, along with dedicated spaces for photography, comic book art, and Western paintings and sculptures.

The building itself was designed by architect Ma Yansong of MAD, working alongside Stantec, with landscape architecture handled by Mia Lehrer. Outside the museum, a sculpture garden features Star Wars characters Padme and Leia depicted fighting off Jabba the Hutt and a Nexu, respectively, blending the museum’s cinematic origins with its broader artistic mission.

The museum’s $1 billion price tag reflects just how ambitious Lucas’s vision has always been, with the filmmaker crediting the team assembled around him for helping bring the project to completion despite its lengthy and often difficult road. Executive director Tracey Bates has noted that the combination of Lucas’s personal history in Los Angeles and the city’s broader status as the heart of American cinema made the Exposition Park site feel like the natural home for the project.

With the public opening now just weeks away, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art stands as one of the most significant cultural investments tied to a single filmmaker’s vision in recent memory. After 17 years of setbacks and persistence, Lucas is finally set to see his dream fully realized for audiences to experience firsthand.

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