We've talked about the books, the television shows, and the films. What else can possibly be covered?
How about the film locations?!
Many a Star Wars fan has made a point to visit the real life settings of some of our favorite Star Wars scenes. Many of them are readily available, with some hiking involved.
The very first film is largely notable for two planets: Tatooine and Yavin. Most of the Tatooine scenes shot for A New Hope, and virtually every other film in the franchise, were all done in Tunisia! Vising the Star Wars scenes in Tunisia is so prolific, that the local tourism industry regularly caters to fans looking to visit Mos Eisley and The Lars Homestead.
The jungles of Yavin IV can be found in Guatemala, particularly around the Mayan temple of Tikal.
The frigid snows of Hoth are separated by over a thousand miles. Some scenes were shot in Switzerland, while others were in Norway!
Before you ask about Yoda's home in Dagobah, it's worth mentioning that several scenes in various movies were filmed in various studios. Some of these lots are available for visitation and tours, while others aren't.
More scenes were shot for Tatooine in Death Valley, for Return of the Jedi, while the forests of Endor can be found in Del Norte County, California.
For the scenes of Naboo in Episode 1, Tunisia again played home to Tatooine, for Mos Espa. The various Naboo scenes were largely filmed in Italy, while some of the Naboo swamp scenes were filmed in England. For Episode 2, scenes were filmed again in Tunisia for Mos Espa and at the Lars Homestead.
In Revenge of the Sith, two notable new locations come to mind. Though very brief, some of the shots of Kashhyyk were filmed in Thailand and China! Most spectacular of all, in a once in a decade event, Mt. Etna in Italy began erupting during the filming of the movie. A crew was sent there to capture footage for use in the Mustafar scenes.
In Solo, the snowy caps of Vandor-1 can be found in Italy's Dolomite Mountains, while the arid planet of Savareen featured footage from the Canary Islands.
Rogue One has some notable scenery as well. The planet Jehda was filmed in Jordan (as well as scenes for the planet Pasanna in Rise of Skywalker), while the locations for Lah'Mu and Scarif could be found in Iceland and the Maldives respectively.
The Force Awakens featured a whole new desert planet. To avoid too many comparisons to Tunisia, the scenes for Jakuu were filmed in the United Arab Emirates. Takodana was filmed in England near the Forest of Dean, while Starkiller Base found its Earthly home in Iceland. Luke Skywalker's exile of Ach-to required a remote island, and Ireland proved a great country for that.
The Resistance Base was filmed in England as well.
The Last Jedi did not feature the last scenery. Two whole new planets needed scenery. Canto Bight's alleyways and coastal casino found a ready home in Croatia, while the salt flats of Bolivia provided the inspiration for Crait.
While we previously mentioned Casanna's film location for The Rise of Skywalker, the one other new planet with its own location was Kef Bir, which wound up being filmed in England as well.
That about wraps up our world tour... for the films at least. Of course, there are still several television series to explore, so maybe we'll get to those next year.
May the Force be with you!
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