‘Light and Magic’ Getting a Second Season, According to Joe Johnston
Boba Fett designer, Star Wars concept artist, and visual effects technician Joe Johnston has confirmed that another season of the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) documentary, dubbed Light and Magic, has wrapped up filming. We didn’t even know this was happening.
On October 1 earlier this month, 32Ten Studios – which served as the home to the George Lucas Theater and the ILM Model and Practical Effects Shop, where the visual effects for the original trilogy were developed – closed up shop for good, with several ILM alumni having a reunion to share a few memories before to mark the end of an era. Star Wars collector and documentarian Gus Lopez filmed a short speech that Johnston made about the creation of the Boba Fett armor.
During the discussion, Johnston indicated that another season of Light and Magic is on the horizon:
“One day, this wooden crate arrived, and we opened it up and it was the Boba Fett – the white plastic Boba Fett suit that Ralph [McQuarrie] and I had been working on designing, and George [Lucas] said ‘We don’t have enough in the budget for 5000 super troopers, so let’s take this guy and turn him into a bounty hunter.’ So I went to [Lucas’ assistant] Jane Bay, and I said ‘I need a place to pain this thing.’ and she handed me a set of keys, and she said ‘George has just leased a building in San Rafael, 3210 Kerner [Boulevard]; it’s empty, you can have any room you want.’, so I put the suit on the ground to paint it.
The other day – Friday, actually – we shot our last 32Ten interview for the Light and Magic Season 2 documentary in this very stage, right there. So I feel like I’m sort of the bookends for the life of ILM.”
You can watch the full speech below:
The initial six-episode season of Light and Magic was a linear narrative explaining the history of ILM, from the development of the first two Star Wars films to ILM’s rise as one of the most prestigious visual effects companies in all of Hollywood in the present day. How the approach to the series will be adjusted for a second season remains to be seen, as the documentary series will most likely need to focus on specific concepts instead of merely covering the company’s history in a chronological format.
Not to be missed, though, is the closure of 32Ten, a historic place for Lucasfilm productions and the film business in general. This was announced in September by Scott Wickman on Facebook, who said the landlord would not be renewing the lease past October 31. A crowdfunding effort to save the building from being repurposed is being set up.
All episodes of the first season of Light and Magic are available to stream on Disney Plus, with no word of when the second season will arrive. Special thanks to Reddit user CyborgNinja116 for spotting this story, and The Resistance Broadcast, who highlighted it in an episode that was published around the same time the video was posted to Reddit.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
