Q&As About 'Star Wars': Who wrote The Empire Strikes Back?

Early poster design (based on a classic poster from Gone With the Wind) for The Empire Strikes Back. Art by Ralph McQuarrie. © 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 

Who wrote The Empire Strikes Back?

Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was written by three individuals: George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, and Lawrence Kasdan.

George Lucas wrote the basic story treatment and created the new character of Yoda, although his version was different from what we see in the finished film. However, Lucas wanted to focus more on producing the movie and believed that his weakest skill was writing, so he decided to hire someone else to write the actual screenplay.

Eventually, Lucas settled on novelist and screenwriter Leigh Brackett, who had written several successful science fiction novels and short stories, as well as scripts for Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep, and The Long Goodbye. She turned in the first draft of her screenplay to Lucasfilm, but even though it was based on his story treatment, Lucas wasn’t thrilled with Brackett’s first draft. Sadly, Brackett never got a chance to do a second draft; she died on March 18, 1978, of cancer. Lucas acknowledged her contribution by giving Brackett a co-writing credit, even though he didn’t use much of her material in the finished film.

Lucas then wrote a rough draft of a screenplay that more closely matched his concept for the movie, but he was not happy with it and decided to search for another writer.

Luckily, Lawrence Kasdan had just handed in the first draft screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even though Lucas had not yet read it, he asked Kasdan to write the script to The Empire Strikes Back. Kasdan, who was also a young director (he was making Body Heat at the time), was trying to avoid working for other directors, but this was George freaking Lucas asking him to help make a Star Wars film. So he accepted, and we ended up with the version of the movie envisioned by Kasdan, Lucas, and director Irvin Kershner.