Behind the Scenes of Vanity Fair’s 2022 Star Wars Cover Shoot

Vanity Fair regularly produces a Star Wars-themed magazine that is headlined by photos taken by Annie Leibovitz. That tradition continues, and the magazine’s latest issue features four characters, both new and old.

The photos were taken to accompany a feature that looks at an expanding Star Wars universe that includes classic characters like Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and mixes them with new heroes, like Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin — otherwise known as the Mandalorian — and Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor.

Vanity Fair’s feature delves into the fleet of new television shows that are bound for Disney+ and details how each of the actors feels about their roles and how the plan for Star Wars has evolved from the days of George Lucas, through the initial acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, up until the today’s vision of Star Wars that is run by Jon Favreau Dave Filoni.

Leibovitz’s photos feature all four headline actors but also put each in their own photos to illustrate the coming television series.

McGregor will return as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Vanity Fair’s feature explains that he was not always happy about his choice to play the iconic character. Much like Sir Alec Guinness felt after his time in the role, McGregor initially regretted his decision to be Obi-Wan, but later realized that as he grew, his feelings about the character changed.

What was originally the politically sound response of “yes” to questions of whether he would ever reprise his role became a truthful feeling, and he says he’s happy to return to playing the Jedi. Returning alongside McGregor is Hayden Christensen, who will reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader.

Luna will reprise his role as Cassian Andor in the upcoming series Andor, which is an origin story that delves into how his character became the one who was first seen on the big screen in Star Wars: Rogue One. The show will air later this year.

Dawson’s Ahsoka is relatively new to live-action despite years as an animated character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. She first appeared in live-action next to Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin in the series The Mandalorian and also more recently appeared in The Book of Boba Fett. Her standalone series is scheduled for 2023.

The details of how Leibovitz captures these images is not revealed, but some of how she interacts with these stars is visible in the behind-the-scenes video above. What does come through, however, is how much each of the actors seems to enjoy their role in the Star Wars universe and how Leibovitz taps into that in order to capture the photos in her iconic style.

Vanity Fair’s full feature on the Star Wars universe in 2022 can be read on its website.