May 4 is known among fans of the movie franchise as Star Wars Day, which can be marked via visits to its filming locations around the world.
Movie maverick George Lucas’ beloved creation, Star Wars, has entertained audiences since the first film was released in 1977, and the legendary film franchise continues to this today, with Obi-Wan Kenobi set for release on Disney+ on May 27, 2022. Star Wars fans tend to annually congregate online and in real life on May 4 to celebrate the date with like-minded people for major movie marathons, in addition to obtaining limited-edition merchandise released specifically for the occasion. An iconic film such as Star Wars has shone a light on our planet’s most jaw-dropping locations as backdrops for three trilogies and countless spin-offs, leading many fans to make a pilgrimage to some of the filming locations. Read on to find out more about some of the most iconic places used as real-life Star Wars sets. Star Wars producers are known for scouting out Earth’s most wild and rugged locations possible to fit the otherworldly brief. From punishingly inhospitable deserts to the deepest redwood forests, discover the Star Wars filming locations you can visit without needing a Millennium Falcon. Stars Wars director and screenwriter George Lucas used California’s Death Valley to film scenes of the desert planet Tatooine in A New Hope. Luas used the area between the Mojave Desert and the Sierra Nevada for the scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi meets Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO for the first time. Over the past decade, a number of Star Wars cast and crew spent time in Ireland filming scenes for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. For example, Luke Skywalker’s remote sanctuary was located on Skellig Michael in County Kerry. Numerous Star Wars locations used this North African country bordering both the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Tunisia’s Hôtel Sidi Driss in Matmatat-Al-Qadimal was used as Luke Skywalker’s childhood home (the Lars homestead) in A New Hope. Star Wars returned in the new millennium to shoot scenes for Attack of the Clones and Lucas also used various locations in Tunisia to film scenes of the desert planet Tatooine.
