George Lucas just proved he’s so much bigger than Star Wars. It is, perhaps, the fate of every great creator to become ᴀssociated with their masterpieces; but Lucas has moved beyond that.

The creator of Star Wars made his first appearance at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, in a much-anticipated panel where he discussed the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. What’s more, the reception to Lucas’ panel – with crowds chanting Lucas’ name as they eagerly awaited its beginning – proved he’s so much bigger than Star Wars.

George Lucas’ Panel Broke An SDCC Record – & It Wasn’t Even About Star Wars

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There’s always been so much more to George Lucas than just Star Wars; he invested some of the money from the first movie’s success in a Manhattan gallery that displayed original comic-strip art, showing his love for popular mediums. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, due to open in 2026, feels like the ultimate fulfillment of that vision.

That was the subject of Lucas’ first SDCC panel, not Star Wars; in fact, he barely mentioned the franchise during the entire panel, which instead focused entirely on the philosophy of art. “This is a temple to the people’s art,” Lucas insisted after a video unveiling plans for the museum.

The museum includes props, movie posters, comic book art, and so much more. Star Wars fans will no doubt be thrilled to see props of Luke’s Landspeeder from A New Hope, Anakin’s Starfighter from The Phantom Menace, and the Speeder Bikes from Return of the Jedi.

Here’s the remarkable thing, though: more than 6,000 people attended Lucas’ Hall H panel. According to THR, that’s the largest ever Sunday panel in SDCC history. Marquee presentations usually take place on Saturday, but this kind of reception was absolutely unprecedented.

George Lucas drew that crowd. Not Star Wars, which was barely mentioned.

The Creator Of Star Wars Just Proved He’s More Than Just His Creation

George Lucas is retired now, having sold Lucasfilm to Disney back in 2012. There’s a certain irony to this; the celebrated filmmaker initially planned to retire all the way back in 1977, failing to predict the success of the first Star Wars movie and briefly hospitalized during production due to stress-related health issues.

Now, though, Lucas is defining his legacy, and that is found in the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Speaking at SDCC, Lucas insisted that these are popular mythologies with the potential to draw people together, and that’s clearly what he hopes to achieve. This is intended to be a place of connection, celebrating an aspect of art often overlooked:

“[Art is] more about a connection, an emotional connection, with the work. Not with the cost or the celebrity did it. It’s the emotional connection. No one can tell you it’s not art. If you have the emotional connection, then it’s art.”

Lucas shared the stage with Queen Latifah, Doug Chiang, and Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro insisted that such popular art was looked down on after the advent of pH๏τography, but that it remains crucial in cultural terms. “Comic books were the first ones to punch Nazis,” he observed, and later noted that “myth belongs to all of us.“

Those were stirring words, especially given del Toro was seated next to George Lucas – a man who insisted on his continued ownership of the Star Wars mythology for so many years. But now, 13 years after he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, Lucas appears to have come to understand even his own art in a new way.

This is George Lucas‘ legacy, and it’s so much bigger – and better – than Star Wars.