Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 film directed by Irvin Kershner. It stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, David Prowse and others.
Synopsis
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 space opera directed by Irvin Kershner. It continues the story begun in the first Star Wars film, and it is set about three years after that earlier adventure.
The Rebel Alliance has set up a hidden base on the frozen planet Hoth, but the Galactic Empire is not finished with it. Darth Vader, played by David Prowse, sends robotic probes into deep space to find the rebels. Their search sets off a chain of events that forces the heroes to move quickly and divide their efforts.
Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, is now a pilot and a committed member of the rebellion, still learning what his connection to the Force can mean. Harrison Ford returns as Han Solo, the smuggler who has stayed with the cause, and Carrie Fisher plays Princess Leia, one of the movement's leaders. Their droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, played by Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, are with them, as is Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, who enters the story later. While Han and Leia try to stay ahead of the Imperial fleet in a battered ship, Luke follows a strange instruction toward a distant, swampy world to seek a teacher. The film follows these two journeys, one across space chased by an empire and the other deep into an unfamiliar place, each pulling the group further from the comfort of their base.
Crew & production
- Director
- Irvin Kershner
- Screenwriters
- George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, Leigh Brackett
- Producer
- Gary Kurtz
- Director of photography
- Peter Suschitzky
- Composer
- John Williams
- Editors
- George Lucas, Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch
- Production company
- Lucasfilm
- Original language
- English
- Filming locations
- Finse
- Budget
- $18 million
- Box office
- $538 million (worldwide)
Trailer
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Top cast
27 people
Harrison Ford
Carrie Fisher
David Prowse
Mark Hamill
Billy Dee Williams
Anthony Daniels
Kenny Baker
Peter Mayhew
Alec Guinness
Denis Lawson
Jeremy Bulloch
Julian Glover
More cast
- Christopher Malcolm
- John Ratzenberger
- Kenneth Colley Firmus Piett
- Michael Sheard Admiral Ozzel
- Marjorie Eaton Palpatine
- Frank Oz Yoda
- Treat Williams
- Ian McDiarmid Palpatine
- Mark Jones
- John Hollis Lobot
- Peter MacDonald
- Jack Purvis
- Clive Revill
- Michael Culver
- John Morton
Sources
- Wikidata (Q181795), accessed October 2026
- Cast photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on each profile
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