While the history between Phil Tippett and Lucasfilm goes back almost half a century, the working relationship between Tippett Studios and Lucasfilm began in earnest in 2015 and the arrival of The Force Awakens, a partnership that has blossomed and prospered in the years since with Tippett sequences featuring in Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Skeleton Crew and next May’s The Mandalorian & Grogu. Writing at Lucasfilm.com, Lucas Seastrom delves into that illustrious history, one that shows no sign of slowing down.
As computer graphics (CG) heralded yet another renaissance in the industry, Tippett Studio embraced the change, often working in collaboration with ILM on visual effects projects. Among their animation talent was Gibbons, who’d broken into the industry in the San Francisco Bay Area as a stop-motion animator before learning CG animation. He never stopped working on stop-motion projects, however, and it came as quite a surprise in 2014 when he was told that Lucasfilm had approached Tippett Studio with an unusual request: could they recreate the original holochess sequence with new stop-motion animation for the forthcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
What might’ve seemed like a relatively small request at the time ultimately blossomed into what is now a decade-long collaboration between Lucasfilm, ILM, and Tippett Studio on multiple Star Wars features, The Mandalorian (2019-23), The Book of Boba Fett (2021-22), and most recently, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024-25), which has been nominated for 17 Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. In September, the studio hinted at a return to the galaxy far, far away, contributing to The Mandalorian and Grogu, which will premiere in theaters May 22, 2026.
