Key dates in Star Wars: June

June

1 June

Gareth Edwards is born 1975
In 1975, Gareth Edwards is born on this day in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. As well as directing Rogue One Gareth is recogised as an accomplished producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, production designer and visual effects artist.

2 June

UK release of Return of the Jedi (1983)
Today in 1983, 8 days after the US, Return of the Jedi opens in UK cinemas. The movie was to be called Revenge of the Jedi, but George Lucas decided against it just days before release, selling unused posters to Star Wars fan club members for $9.50.

3 June

John Dykstra is born (1947)
John Dykstra was born today in 1947. He led development at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) of the computer controlled motion capture camera system, Dykstraflex, responsible for many of the groundbreaking effects seen in Star Wars (Ep IV).

4 June

Josef Rubenstein is born (1958)
In 1958, Josef Rubinstein was born this day. He is a successful comic book artist and inker who has worked on a number of Marvel, DC and Darkhorse titles. He did the cover for the last two issues of the original Marvel Star Wars series of comics.

5 June

Kathleen Kennedy is born (1953)
Today in 1953, President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, is born in Berkeley, California. Under her leadership we have seen a return to the Skywalker Saga as well as standalone movies Rogue One & Solo and TV shows Rebels & Resistance.

6 June

Daniel Logan is born (2087)
In 1987, in Auckland, New Zealand, Daniel Logan is born today. At the age of 14 he portrayed a young Boba Fett in the movie Attack of the Clones. This is a role he continued to play in the successful TV show The Clone Wars.

Other events on this day...
Jason Isaacs born (1963)

7 June

David Filoni is born (1974)
Pennsylvania native Dave Filoni is born on this day in 1974. Dave first worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender for Nickelodeon, He has directed The Clone Wars, was executive producer on Rebels and is overseer of all Lucasfilm animation projects.

Other events on this day...
Liam Neeson born (1952)
Christopher Lee died (2015)

8 June

Twins Paul and Stephen Youll are born (1965)
In 1965 twin brothers Paul and Stephen Youll are born on this day in Hartlepool in the UK. Both brothers are talented artists and illustrators who have built reputations for drawing science fiction and fantasy scenes used as cover illustrations.

9 June

Natalie Portman is born (1981)
On this day in 1981 Natalie Portman was born in Jeruselem, Israel. In 1999, while still in high school, she played Padmé Amidala in Ep1 (The Phantom Menace), again in 2002 in Ep2 whilst studying at Harvard University, and finally in Ep3 in 2005.

10 June

Ben Daniels is born (1964)
In 1964, in Nuneaton UK, Ben Daniels was born this day. In 2016 he portrayed General Antoc Merrick in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. At the Battle of Scarif Merrick flew a T-65B X-wing starfighter as leader of Blue Squadron, was shot down and killed.

11 June

John Wayne died (1979)
John Wayne died this day in 1979. He provided the voice of Imperial spy Garindan in Star Wars: Ep4 A New Hope via stock audio, making this his last role in a film before his death.

12 June

Claudia Gray is born (1970)
Claudia Gray was born on this day in 1970 in New York, US. Her real name is Amy Vincent but writes under the pseudonym Gray. She wrote the Star Wars novels: Lost Stars, Bloodline, Leia, Princess of Alderaan and Master and Apprentice.

13 June

Ralph McQuarrie is born (1929)
On this day in 1929 Ralph McQuarrie was born in Gary, Indiana. Ralph's concept paintings helped Lucas win approval from 20th Century Fox; armed with illustrations of his ideas, Lucas was able to convince Fox executives to take a gamble.

14 June

Steve Sansweet is born (1945)
Steve Sansweet was born today in 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Until 2011, he was Director of Content Management & Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm Ltd before establishing Rancho Obi-Wan, the world's largest Star Wars memorabilia museum.

15 June

Fred Tatasciore is born (1967)
In 1967 Fred Tatasciore was born today. This multi-talented voice actor & animator has voiced over 50 different characters in Clone Wars, The Force Awakens, Rebels, Resistance, Rogue One, and in games such as The Force Unleashed & Battlefront II.

16 June

Michael Culver is born (1938)
On this day in 1938, Michael Culver was born in London, UK. Playing Lorth Needa, Captain of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer ‘Avenger’, he was killed by Darth Vader for failing to capture the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back.

17 June

Release of Robot Chicken: Star Wars (2007)
On this day in 2007, the Star Wars episode of the stop motion satirical show co-created by Seth Green, Robot Chicken, was first aired. The Emmy-nominated double length episode featured the voices of George Lucas, Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams.

18 June

Ralph Brown is born (1957)
Ralph Brown was born today in 1957. He played Commander Ric Olié who served in the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps, as well as flying the Naboo Royal Starship for Queen Padme Amidala. He was a key ranking figure invited to Qui-Gon’s funeral.

19 June

Star Wars Scene Maker app released (2014)
In 2014, on this day Disney Mobile in collaboration with LucasArts released Star Wars Scene Maker. The app allowed you to recreate or even re-invent mini-movies of iconic scenes from the Original Trilogy and export them to YouTube.

20 June

Rebels Season 2, Episode 1 first aired (2015)
In 2015, Episode 1 of Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels is first aired today. In this season we see the Empire step up their efforts to capture (or destroy) the Rebels with the introduction of Darth Vader to the hunt.

21 June

Marvel Comics Poe Dameron Annual 1 published (2017)
Today, in 2017, Marvel Comics' Star Wars: Poe Dameron was published, written by Robert Thompson & illustrated by Nicole Virella. After disobeying a direct order from General Leia he gets stranded in First Order space with no ship & little oxygen.

22 June

Marvel Comics The Force Awakens, Part I published (2016)
Released today in 2016, The Force Awakens, Part I is the first issue of the 6-part Marvel comic book miniseries Star Wars: The Force Awakens Adaptation. The issue was written by Chuck Wendig, with art by Luke Ross.

23 June

Bill Motz is born (1964)
Bill Motz was born today, 1964, in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. He is co-producer and writer alongside Bob Roth of the Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures animated TV show, which introduces the Freemaker family who are hunted by the Emperor.

24 June

What's The Story? feature launched on Hyperspace (2005)
Today in 2005 'What's the Story?' was launched on the Star Wars fan club website - Star Wars Hyperspace, allowing fans to submit backstories of characters or vehicles of the movies. Pablo Hidalgo selected winning entries which became 'canon'.

25 June

Mark Hamill's son Nathan is born (1979)
On this day in 1979, Nathan Hamill was born. Son of SW legend Mark Hamill, Nathan is an artist, but has also acted minor roles in The Phantom Menace and The Last Jedi. He has previously provided illustrations for Topps Star Wars trading cards.

26 June

First day of filming The Phantom Menace (1997)
First day of filming Attack of the Clones (2000)
After a hiatus of 14 years, plans for a new Star Wars movie are formally set in motion today, in 1997, when The Phantom Menace begins filming. Three years on, and Attack of the Clones also began filming today in 2000.

27 June

JJ Abrams is born (1966)
Brought up in Los Angeles, JJ Abrams was born today in 1966 in New York. He moved back to New York to study film at Sarah Lawrence College. He co-wrote, directed and produced The Force Awakens in 2015 and returns with Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

28 June

All white concept armour for Boba Fett revealed (1978)
Today in 1978 an all-white costume concept for what would eventually evolve into the character of Boba Fett is officially unveiled to Lucasfilm insiders in a 20-minute black and white screen test.

29 June

Micheal Carter is born (1947)
In 1947, on this day, Michael Carter was born in Dumfries, Scotland. Whilst his first movie was An American Werewolf in London, for Star Wars fans, Michael is more widely known as Bib Fortuna from Return of the Jedi.

30 June

First day of filming Revenge of the Sith (2003)
In 2003 filming for Revenge of the Sith began this day. Generally, the movie is considered by many to be the best of the Prequel Trilogy in no small part because of the much darker undertones of the film, where we see Anakin's fall into darkness.