Star Wars Had to Destroy Alderaan Before It Became One of the Most Beautiful Places in the Galaxy Far, Far Away
Half a century in the making: a brief history of Alderaan via the stunning concept art of Ralph McQuarrie, Ryan Church and the many, many other talented people behind the scenes of Star Wars.
Imagine a planet so sublime you can hardly believe it. The sky shining a bright blue, like the dream of a peaceful union in the galaxy far, far away. Elegant structures rise majestically into the clouds. Not the oppressive mega blocks of a dystopian cityscape but the radiant architecture of the future of the past, embedded in green gardens that flow seamlessly into mighty mountains. Welcome to the world of Alderaan, the home of Princess Leia Organa. A place where hope sprouts from every corner.
The truth is: for a long time, this image only existed in our heads. In fact, the first thing we saw of Alderaan was its destruction. From the bridge of the Death Star, we look at the blue planet sitting minuscule in distant space. It glows innocently in the darkness, graceful but helpless in the face of the grim battle station that looms into view. A few seconds and a huge explosion later, all that is left of Alderaan is debris. An entire civilization, wiped out in seconds. It took Star Wars decades to reconstruct it in all its glory, first through concept art, then through films and series.
Alderaan as the base of the Empire, Alderaan as the homeworld of the Sith, Alderaan as a prison with no way out: it took some time for the planet to take its current shape – and we ourselves had to wait even longer before we could finally visit it. Enter Revenge of the Sith: After the fall of the Republic, the last place untouched by the Empire offers refuge to those who escaped the horrors of Order 66. For a brief moment, the flames of Mustafar are forgotten and a glimmer of hope emerges as newborn Leia finds her home in the caring hands of Breha and Bail Organa.
Ryan Church's concept art from 2002 gives us a glimpse of the blossoming Alderaan. Bathed in a lilac-colored light, curved buildings dominate the scenery. No corners and edges: The strict lines of the Empire are nowhere to be found. Instead, the buildings merge elegantly into one another, as if they are part of a large river flowing through the snow-capped mountains. Memories of Frank Capra's adventure fantasy film Lost Horizon from 1937 come to mind when we find sanctuary in the picturesque valley of Shangri-La after a fateful plane crash.
“Since I was a kid I’ve wanted to do something that was so beautiful that when you hear Alderaan is destroyed in Episode IV, you go, ‘Oh, crap!’” With these words, Church describes his inspiration in Paul Duncan's The Star Wars Archives. Before he found Alderaan's distinctive design, he played with other ideas. Floating buildings that looked like figures gathering – a clear step towards Ralph McQuarrie's design that morphed into Cloud City. In the end, however, Alderaan remained on the ground and turned into the retrofuturistic paradise we know today.
After the release of Revenge of the Sith, Alderaan became more prominent in Star Wars’ visual canon. In the seventh episode of the third season of The Clone Wars, Assassin, we take a trip to the planet. It's also mentioned several times in series like Star Wars Rebels and The Mandalorian. Its biggest appearance to date was in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which has us running through the peaceful forests with young Princess Leia. In order to portray the blue jewel as convincingly as possible, Alderaan has undergone its most extensive concept art exploration to date.
To find the Alderaan of Obi-Wan Kenobi, design supervisor Doug Chiang and his team went back to the early designs that inspired George Lucas. “Alderaan was meant to be idyllic”, Chiang stated at Star Wars Celebration 2023 when he introduced the concept art of the series to the crowd.
He further elaborated:
“A utopian city set in the mountains. Wyoming became our foundation. We wanted the crisp mountain air. The green hills and the blue lakes. For the buildings, we referenced Ralph McQuarrie’s and Jon Berkey’s paintings.”
Architecture in harmony with nature and grounded in reality:
“The challenge with exotic architecture is that they may look cool, but they quickly become too fanciful and not believable. Our Alderaan had to be real and believable. To ground it in reality, we started to look for actual locations that we could use for our sets. Then we did paint overs to transform these locations into our Alderaan.”
Interestingly, these paint overs were not used directly for the series. They only informed what Alderaan should look like in the end. For example: the work of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava inspired the terminal building we see at the first and the last episode. One of his most famous creations is the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain. In the concept art by Finnian MacManus pictured above, the white structures of Calatrava's architecture are clearly recognizable.
The huge complex has already served as the backdrop for science fiction stories such as Tomorrowland, Doctor Who and Westworld in the past, not to mention Andor. Parts of the second season of the Rogue One prequel were filmed in the City of Arts and Science in March 2023. For Kenobi’s Alderaan, this real life inspiration was expanded and altered, resulting in a completely new planetary surface that is in line with the visual language of Star Wars and especially Revenge of the Sith.
To make things even more poetic, Ryan Church returned as an artist to create new Alderaan designs for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Having already landed Bail Organa's cruiser on a landing platform between the mountains two decades ago, he has now brought Organa's yacht into position. A pitch perfect piece of concept art that transfers the curved designs of the buildings to the stylish and sleek ship.
Many of the new Star Wars projects are based on the look and feel of the original trilogy. Along with the flashback scenes in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi is so far the Star Wars series that most embraces the aesthetic of the prequels. The concept art in particular feels very much like an evolution of the various Coruscant drawings by Doug Chiang, Erik Tiemens and other that’s in stark contrast to the era of the Reign of the Empire.
Artists like Shane Baxley, Finnian MacManus and Pablo Dominguez offer their own vision of Alderaan. Dominguez recently helped shape a similarly marvelous place. For The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, he created several breathtaking concepts that bring the arcane kingdom of Númenor to life in striking colors. He has achieved a comparable feat with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Alderaan, making you want to visit this utopian city immediately. Forget the very artificial looking society if meme. This right here is a place full of warm textures and blooming ideas of the future.
Around half a century after George Lucas first thought about a place called Alderaan, it is finally tangible in all its glory thanks to the outstanding art. Individual motifs and details that were already recognizable in Ralph McQuarrie's work have remained. Many changed and transformed over the course of time. The result is a unique place whose design has become one of the ultimate images of hope in Star Wars, even though the planet itself is doomed. Creation and destruction have rarely been so close together in the process of creating concept art. It’s as tragic as it is beautiful.
Image credits: Lucasfilm
stunning!
Wow, these concept arts are spectacular. If Alderaan would be a city in a country within the real world it would be Geneva in Switzerland. Idyllic, prosperous and above the worldly matters. A perfect place to raise a princess. However, Tatooine would be something like Aleppo in Syria. A perfect place to raise a future Jedi Master. Ascetic and harsh environment, removing all possibilities to have a spoiled and luxury upbringing. Thank you for writing about Star Wars.