As anyone who’s seenStar Warscan attest to the fact that there’s a lot of sand in the galaxy, and that’s because Lucasfilm has always had a knack for shooting in desert locations. Maybe it’s because deserts are such a great place to look for talented force-sensitive youth, but a new breakdown has the exact number of just how much desert is featured inStar Wars.
The first to keep in mind is whether to take recentStar Warsspinoffs into consideration, asThe Mandalorianowes its spaghetti western style to many things, and one of them is definitely its frequent use of desert landscapes, andthe same goes forThe Book of Boba Fett, of course. Regardless of that, there’s still a surprisingly high amount of Tattoine or Jakku scenery in all three trilogies, so how much do all these places take up in terms of precious screen time?
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Well, as reported byCollider(click here to see another infographic), the three films with the most desert landscapes in the franchise’s entire history areThe Rise of Skywalker(6.9%),Attack of the Clones(6.5%), andThe Phantom Menace(6.3%), all falling below a double-digit share’s worth of runtime, unlike the aforementionedBook of Boba Fett(32.3%) andThe Mandalorian(17.8%), both of which beatObi-Wan Kenobi(6.2%) by quite the margin. As for which films or shows feature less time in the sand, well that honor goes toThe Empire Strikes Backwith absolutely zero (no, ice deserts don’t count), followed closely byThe Last Jedi(1.4%) andRevenge of the Sith(1.6%). Check out Collider’s handy chart down below for the rest.
Now, bear in mind the calculation methods already account for the much longer runtime of the threeStar Warsseries available on Disney Plus. Instead, the goal is to determine what percentage of that runtime is dedicated to desert surroundings. Rounding up all the numbers, between films and shows, it turns out thatStar Warsmoviesand shows spend a combined 12 hours and 33 minutes in the desert, representing just over a quarter of the franchise’s total runtime at exactly 26.8% versus 73.2% spent on different locations.
Why so much sand? Well, obviously havingStar Warsmostly centered around the Skywalkers goes a long way (after all, it’s called the Skywalker saga for a reason), as both Anakin and his son Luke grew up in Tattoine, and that sense of familiarity is exactly why writers decided Rey would grow up in the desert. MaybeAndor,Ahsoka, orThe Mandalorian’s third season can change that trend, or it could be somethingsaved for Taika Waititi’sStar Warsproject.
TheStar Warssaga is now available on Disney Plus.
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