The Millennium Falcon's Design Origins Are Not What You'd Expect

One of the most famous ships in Star Wars, the Millennium Falcon, has a unique origin in its creation that isn't what you might have suspected.

Star Wars‘ Millennium Falcon design origins are not what you might expect. The famed ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs is one of the most recognized and popular ships in all of pop culture. The Millennium Falcon made its first appearance in George Lucas’ A New Hope in 1977 and has since become a cultural icon, appearing in both the Star Wars original and sequel trilogies.

Piloted by Han Solo (Indiana Jones‘ Harrison Ford), the Millennium Falcon is a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter that changed hands many times before Lando Calrissian won the the ship in a game of sabacc. A fellow smuggler, Han Solo (who flew the famed Kessel Run mission in the starship) would eventually win the ship from Calrissian in a game of sabacc as well, captaining it well through the Galactic Civil War where he teamed up with the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and his copilot, Chewbacca. Calrissian would return to pilot the Falcon multiple times, including The Battle of Endor, where it aided in destroying the second Death Star and The Battle of Exegol, which saw the end of Emperor Palpatine and The Final Order.

The ship has been celebrated across many mediums since its introduction, from toys to models to LEGOs to comic books to art prints and beyond, becoming a staple of the Star Wars mythology. Its creation is another thing altogether, which is outlined in the first episode of the Disney+ series Light & Magic, which traces the origins of the famed effects house Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), created by George Lucas. The fascinating docu-series reveals a number of fascinating facts about the creation of A New Hope, including how the Millennium Falcon came to be, which was the result of Lucas wanting Han Solo’s ship to be a unique design that looked unlike anything else.

How The Millennium Falcon Was Created

Originally, the Millennium Falcon looked quite different and that design ended up becoming the basis for the ship known as Tantive IV. Joe Johnston (who would later become a director in his own right with films like Jumanji, The Rocketeer, and Captain America: The First Avenger) was an illustrator and designer on A New Hope and was tasked with coming up with something unique for the Millennium Falcon. Sitting at home, Johnston put two bowls on top of one another, essentially creating a flying saucer, and then drew out the concept from there, while utilizing the cockpit design that was already created, as well as the famed antenna dish. Johnston rationalized that the cockpit would be on one side of the ship, much like driving a car, and implemented the design as such, which Lucas immediately approved.

From there, Johnston and the creators at ILM immediately began the creation of it in the model shop, rather than finalizing it on paper. The nickname for The Millennium Falcon was “The Pork Burger” as it looked like a hamburger. It’s manifestation in model form, like all the other ships in the Star Wars universe, was created by way of “kit bashing,” which involved ILM creators buying up model kits and utilizing various parts to create the many ships. Everything on the ships needed to have a reason and interconnected design, rather than just being big, shiny ships that offered no evidence of having a mechanically functional creation. The Millennium Falcon is a heavily-modified ship and the designers made it appear that way, like many of the rebel ships, which are meant to be more like hot rods, while Empire’s ships, such as the TIE fighters, were meant to look more like they were built right off the assembly line. This lived-in design concept helped define the Star Wars universe of ships, which is embodied perfectly with the Millennium Falcon.