‘Star Wars: The Experience’ will debut at the Franklin Institute for the saga’s 50th anniversary
The upcoming exhibit created by the Franklin Institute and Lucasfilm will be the subject of a panel at San Diego Comic-Con later this month.
If you like persnickety droids, precocious aliens, and scruffy-looking nerf herders, the Franklin Institute will be where it’s AT-AT next year when a new exhibit, “Star Wars: The Experience — A Journey Through the Galaxy,” premieres in February.
The interactive exhibit is part of the 50th anniversary celebration marking the 1977 debut of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the first film released in the sci-fi franchise.
Billed as the “largest and most comprehensive behind-the-scenes exhibition celebrating the Star Wars galaxy,” the 18,000-square-foot experience will feature more than 70 props from Lucasfilm’s archives, including Darth Vader’s costume, Darth Maul’s light-saber, and a speeder bike, according to a news release from the Franklin Institute.
The droids you are looking for, like R2-D2 and C-3PO, will be on display, along with beloved characters like Grogu (this is the way).
The experience was created over more than four years by the Franklin, Lucasfilm, Disney Consumer Products, and Orlando-based experiential design firm MDSX.
Specifics about the exhibition are scant, but it will include “large immersive moments” and RFID (radio frequency identification) technology that will allow for a personalized and interactive experience, the release said. Displays will delve into sound design, costume creation, fandom, gaming, and other aspects of the Star Wars universe.
More details and renderings of the exhibit will be released during a July 24 panel at San Diego Comic-Con called “The Making of Star Wars: The Experience.” The panel will feature representatives from the Franklin, Lucasfilm, and MDSX and will be moderated by Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano in several animated series including Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
“Star Wars: The Experience” will run at the Franklin from Feb. 13 to Sept. 6, 2027, and will be in place for May 4, the unofficial Star Wars holiday. (May the Fourth be with you.)
After its Philly run, the exhibit will go on a five-year tour around North America.
“Star Wars created a cultural landscape that spans decades and delivers massive, undeniable global appeal,” said Larry Dubinski, president and CEO of the Franklin Institute, in a statement. “Its influence extends far beyond cinema — shaping entertainment, culture, technology, and business, while redefining how stories are created, experienced, and shared across generations.”
This is the second exhibit about the galaxy far, far, away that the Franklin has staged. Consider it Star Wars: The Franklin Strikes Back.
In 2008, the museum hosted “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination,” which featured props, costumes, and a five-minute ride in a simulator of the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit. That touring exhibit was a collaboration between the Boston Museum of Science and Lucasfilm.
The new experience, the Franklin says, will differ from the previous one in many ways.
“This exhibition is much larger in scale, more ambitious in scope, and powered by technologies that allow every guest to experience a custom story,” said Abby Bysshe, chief experience and strategy officer, in a statement
A lot has happened with the Star Wars franchise in the 18 years since the first exhibit was held at the Franklin. Luscasfilm was purchased by the Disney Company in 2012, there have been six new Star Wars movies, and more than a dozen new Star Wars shows.
When the last exhibit opened, Grogu wasn’t even a twinkle in Din Djarin’s eye and nobody had ever heard the name Cassian Andor.
Now, they have friends everywhere.
Tickets for “Star Wars: The Experience — A Journey Through the Galaxy” will go on sale in November.
